Heartland Conference leaders sever Eagles’ win streak

Photo by: Will Gentry

 

Consistency is the key to success for the Eagles.

The Oklahoma Christian University men’s basketball team proved the necessity of consistent play after drawing two consecutive losses from the toughest teams in the Heartland Conference.

Thursday night the Eagles faced Texas A&M International University (14-4, 7-1). TAMIU currently leads the Heartland Conference and shut down the Eagles with a final score of 80-65.

Oklahoma Christian (7-10, 3-6) had four players finish the game with double-digits in shooting, but they could not hold off the Dustdevils. The Eagles never held a lead during the game, shooting 37.7 percent from the field while TAMIU shot 51.7 percent.

The Eagles had intermittent spurts of success. The Dustdevils maintained a steady lead throughout the game, however, despite senior Kendre Talley – the leading team scorer – posting 16 points, freshman Jordan VanDeKop and junior Nick Tate both finishing with 15 points and junior Willie Harper walking away with 13 points.

“Everybody had moments in both games,” Head Coach of Men’s Basketball Dan Hays said. “We just needed consistency. Perimeters and the post group did not play with level of performance we needed.”

Shooting was just one factor that brought about a loss. The Eagles had key players shut down and held to minimal performances. The Dustdevils made a point to shut down Talley and freshman John Moon, who have been giving good numbers throughout the season. Additionally, TAMIU just fielded an older, more experienced squad than Oklahoma Christian.

“They [TAMIU and St. Mary’s University] had a physical style of play and we knew that,” Tate said. “They were more experienced and were full of juniors and seniors while we have mostly freshmen and sophomores.”

Freshman Deric Shelton said their youth is not an acceptable reason for the loss Thursday night

“This late in the season, we really don’t feel like freshmen anymore,” Shelton said. “We have the experience, so we all try to be equals and challenge each other to be better.”

Hays said he has faith in the younger players and that experience will bring more consistency.

“The young guys are doing well,” Hays said. “They are going through this the first time and making progress. We just have to be more consistent with our performance, but that will come with time.”

Saturday the Eagles fell to the Rattlers of St. Mary’s, also a frontrunner in the Heartland Conference, with a final score of 74-62.

The Eagles finished Saturday with a 43.6 shooting percentage from the field and hitting 21.4 percent on 3-pointers.

The Rattlers and the Eagles were tied at one point during the first half, but the Rattlers took advantage of another hot streak, pulling a decisive lead over the Eagles.

Talley, Harper and Tate kept steady performances to shorten the point distance, but the Rattlers held onto the lead for the game.

Point performances were spread out among the Eagles on Saturday. Moon finished with 10 points. Tate logged 10 points Saturday but also came out with eight rebounds. VanDeKop had another solid point performance after posting 12, and Talley led the team in points: scoring 15 points, five assists and three steals.

“Our percentages were down this week,” Tate said.  “In practices we were told they were physical. We were told to get physical and have that in our mind. That is also how we prepared for the games this weekend. We have to stay physical and get better.”

StMU and TAMIU are first and second in conference standings, respectively. The teams play with a similar physical style.

For the Eagles, this means they must keep working to maintain consistent growth and strength of performance as they continue deeper into conference play and into the postseason.

Tate and Hays both felt there were positive strides in team performance on defense.

“I feel like we played really good defense,” Tate said.  “A lot of times we didn’t get 50/50 balls in the air. Defense was really good. Nobody really out-rebounded us terribly bad. The defense was solid this week. They were just a bit more physical.”

Hays agreed that defense was not the Eagles’ downfall, but a lack of offense.

“Defensively we played well,” Hays said. “We just did not make enough shots. The other teams had a lot to do with it.”

The remainder of the season will be in conference play. The next two weeks will be road games in Texas. The last two losses may seem daunting, but the players are choosing to not let these games shift their focus from steady improvements and future success.

“[As a team] we will have to keep shooting,” Shelton said. “It will be a team effort to stay focused and make more plays on defense and make some shots.”

Tate made the point that it takes playing tough teams to make their own team better.

“I think we need to keep the same mindset,” Tate said.  “Even though we took two losses we got better this week. We have to remind ourselves those are the [No.] 1 and 2 teams in the conference. We will be playing better in March. Since we are young, we have to continue to build and keep moving forward. We got to get some wins in conference. We have to.”

The Eagles faced McMurry University in Abilene, Texas yesterday. Check talonatoc.com for a brief update. The War Hawks are 8-10 overall, and 3-6 in Heartland Conference play.