January 26, 2008
For the second straight game, No. 6 Oklahoma Baptist went into overtime on the road and lost, this time 65-63 to Wayland Baptist.
The Bison scored the first basket of the overtime session, by Brent Jones, but couldn't score any more.
Kris Hatley tied the game at 63-63 and Michal Polonowski then made one free throw with 23.3 left on the clock. OBU had two shots to take the lead, one by Brian Hill and then an open three by Evan Grace, but the ball wouldn't go down. Pioneer Lee Berend grabbed the rebound off Grace's miss, got fouled and converted the second of his two free throws with 1.2 seconds.
OBU still had time for last-second heroics, but Tony Jones stole the inbound pass.
"I don't think we've got anything to be ashamed of by the way we played today," said Bison head coach Doug Tolin. "They're a very good basketball team. They played well today."
Al Moore tied the game at 61-61 with .7 seconds left. The Bison scored the last four points of regulation. Brent Jones made it drew OBU within two with 26 seconds left. After not being able to grab a steal, the Bison fouled Polonowski, who failed to hit the front end of a one-and-one.
The teams battled back and forth the entire game, which saw 13 lead changes and 11 ties.
"We waited until we go down five or six down and then went to work defensively," Tolin.
Wayland led by as many as six and the Bison by four.
Danny Storey scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Pioneers.
Moore also got a double-double for OBU, scoring 12 and getting 10 boards. Brian Hill lead the Bison with 16, Brent Jones scored 12 and Grace put in 10.
OBU, now 15-4 overall and 7-4 in the Sooner Athletic Conference, come home to play John Brown Thursday at 8 p.m.