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Elijah Elliot -
Shem'mario Stephens -
Hunter Staten (44) defends a shot by Justus Cooper (42) -
Marco Foster (22) guards Matthew Wilson (2)
Marco Foster knocked the ball away and threw it forward for Anthony Johnson, who threw down a one-handed slam.
The senior’s dunk Tuesday night put the exclamation point on the Oklahoma Christian men’s basketball team’s 76-70 win against Arkansas-Fort Smith at Payne Athletics Center.
OC (5-11) led the entire second half as it ground out a tight win.
UAFS (4-10) got the deficit as close as 1 point but was unable to tie or take the lead.
OC coach Kendre Talley said the Eagles have been playing like they have something to prove.
“We’re good enough,” Talley said. “We have enough talent to get stuff done, but they just got to believe in themselves. Today, we just played fearless. We didn’t care about making mistakes, we just wanted to play tougher, and that’s what they did for 40 minutes.”
UAFS freshman Payton Brown led all scorers with 24. Seniors Chris Rollins and Matthew Wilson each followed with 15.
Junior D.J. Walter and freshman Elijah Elliot tied for the OC lead with 15 points apiece. Freshman Marco Foster had 14, followed by Johnson with 11.
Foster scored all his points in the first half. At the time, no one else for OC had more than 5.
Walter said Foster’s success in the first half, as well as last time the two teams played, got the Lions’ attention and provided opportunities for the rest of the team.
“They (were) on him in the second half,” Walter said. “He carried us in that first half. Once they started really stuffing him, stuff opened for other guys, and as basketball players, we take advantage of that… When the opportunity came, we produced.”
OC led 34-32 at halftime after Johnson laid it in with 3 seconds left. The teams went back and forth throughout the second half, but neither team took control. UAFS sophomore Evan Anderson made it 43-42 with a 3-pointer, but Walter responded with a layup. Brown cut the lead to 1 again, but the Eagles hit the next two shots. It never got that close again.
With 4:50 to play, Elliot stole the ball and rushed to the rim. After three pump fakes, he laid it up and in, drawing a foul in the process. He hit the free throw to give OC a 70-59 lead. This was the only time either team led by double digits.
UAFS responded with a 7-1 run, but OC held on to get the win.
OC was coming off an 80-78 loss Sunday to Texas A&M-Commerce. Talley said winning a tight game two days later felt great.
“It’s tough to lose a heartbreaking game like that and come play a couple days later and pull out a win against a team that you had to beat twice,” Talley said. “A very well coached team that do some really good stuff offensively and defensively. But, I’m just giving credit to the guys and the staff, because the preparation and everything for today, it was second to none.”