Bison Bounce Friends

Article Date

December 17, 2005

Friends was anything but friendly, committing 29 fouls, but the Bison proved to be an ungracious host in a 94-75 win Saturday in the Noble Complex.

OBU dominated the rebounding with a 53-21 edge. The Bison grabbed more than half of their own misses, out-rebounding Friends 18-16 in OBU's front court. Frank Benson and Julius Hurd had 13 caroms apiece.

Friends placed the Bison on the free throw line 41 times with the Bison converting 30 of those, compared to a 5-13 evening at the stripe for the Falcons.

OBU played without two players, including back-up point guard Evan Graves, who were sick.

The Bison trailed for much of the first seven minutes as Friends hit its first four baskets for a 10-5 lead.

Kortney Smith scored to tie the game at 17-17 with 12:30 left in the first half, triggering an 11-0 run that also included a Smith three-pointer. The 26-17 OBU lead at the 7:38 mark of the half was the biggest before intermission.

Friends produced a rally of their own and took a 37-36 lead with 92 seconds before halftime, but OBU got two free throws by Trey Griffin and a three-pointer by Bailey Jones for the 41-37 halftime lead.

OBU broke open a one-point game with a 19-7 run with six free throws and a pair of baskets by Smith to lead the way. The lead stayed in double-digits from the 13:28 mark on with a Frank Benson three-point play at the 1:53 mark giving OBU its largest lead, 92-70.

Benson led all scorers with 23 points, followed by Hurd with 17, Nick Pope with 16, Griffin with 15 and Kortney Smith with 14.

The Bison moved to 11-0 and closed out the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule. The team will play Arkansas Baptist College at 4 p.m. on Dec. 29.