Photo by: Abby Bellow
Two different tournaments resulted in two losses that closed the men’s and women’s basketball teams’ seasons last week.
The Lady Eagles advanced through the National Christian College Athletic Association Central Region Tournament as champions to face Roberts Wesleyan University in the NCCAA quarterfinals, only to turn up short in a close loss with a final score of 69-66.
The Lady Eagles took the title of regional champions for the second consecutive year.
The Eagles closed out their season in a loss to Dallas Baptist University at the National Christian College Central Region Tournament, hosted at Oklahoma Christian University.
The Eagles entered the tournament as the fifth seed and faced DBU for the third time this season, resulting in the first win for Dallas Baptist.
“We just gave up too many threes to a very hot shooting team,” Head Coach of Men’s Basketball Dan Hays said. “They just made the shots and our defense was not quite as good. It was really a combination of both elements. They shot well and we missed it. It is the trouble of playing someone twice. We felt safe and they caught us.”
DBU made fifteen 3-pointers against the Eagles last Thursday out of 27 attempts from behind the arc. The Patriots shot 55.6 percent and successfully held the Eagles at bay from every attempt at a rally with a final score of 87-75.
“We showed a lot of heart on the court Thursday,” Hays said. “We would cut their lead but could not get over the hump to make a point difference. We would cut to 2 points, and then they shot another 3 to widen the gap.”
The Patriots entered the second half with a score of 36-31. DBU pushed it to 48-38 with junior Nick Tate giving the Eagles a 14-5 run to bring the score to 53-32 with 12:48 left in the game.
Senior Kendre Talley tried to put together another rally with 6:14 left on the clock, but the Patriots evaded them once more. Freshman John Moon put in a 7-0 run to bring the score to 74-71, but the Patriots would not have it and went 10-11 for free throws in the final two minutes to seal the win.
Talley put up 18 points for the Eagles as well as five assists and five rebounds. Talley finished his college career with Oklahoma Christian with a total of 1,333 points.
“We really just could not get some big shots in to slow their momentum,” freshman Luis Lopez said. “We tried to tailor our defense around their top shooters because they were coming in strong, but we could not get it to work out right on the court.”
Junior Willie Harper put in 18 points as well against DBU.
“It was a tough game, and we beat them twice early on so we definitely should have gotten them again,” sophomore Collin Tubbs said. “It seemed like every shot we made they turned around with a few more. Our defense was not as good as it could have been either. I think we left people open and just had a lot of simple mistakes that day.”
The match between the Lady Eagles and the Lady Redhawks from Roberts Wesleyan was the first meeting between the teams. The coaches and players not only had to prepare physically for this game, but also mentally in pregame research to know what they needed to expect in this first encounter.
RWU entered the quarterfinal matchup ranked fifth in the conference in rebounding, while the Lady Eagles led the conference in rebounds before entering the game. The Redhawks were also ranked 10th nationally in scoring defense.
The preparation did not change the outcome for the Lady Eagles when cold shooting and missed rebounds spelled the end for the womens’ national title hopes, making only 25 out of 81 shots against Roberts Wesleyan.
The Lady Eagles shot 30.9 percent, and in spite of leading the NCCAA in rebounds, were outdone at the board 46-41 by the Redhawks.
Following the loss to the Redhawks, Oklahoma Christian had to play two more games to close postseason play in fifth place.
The Lady Eagles beat Grace University 74-62 and went on to face Emmanuel University on Friday, finishing with a final score of 81-65, effectively securing a fifth-place finish in the NCCAA Championship.
For the men, seven teams traveled to Oklahoma Christian for the National Christian College Athletic Association Central Region Tournament. Teams were represented from five states around the central region.
The top-seeded team was Southern Nazarene University (14-12), followed by second seed Colorado Christian University (15-12). Mid-America Christian University (17-11) entered as No. 3, followed by the Eagles and DBU, respectively.
Southern Nazarene University went on to win the central region tournament, advancing to play in nationals.
The Lady Eagles entered the women’s NCCAA Central Region Tournament at Oklahoma Christian as the top seed over second seed Colorado Christian University, followed by Mid-America Christian University (17-13) and Southwestern Assemblies of God University (14-17), the third and fourth seeds respectively.
The women took first in the regional tournament and played at Winona Lake in Indiana for the NCCAA championship.
The Eagles and Lady Eagles are now looking towards next season after saying goodbye to their senior leaders.
The Lady Eagles are losing Mica Havens, Krista Stevens, Andee Wayne, Roz Hamilton and Talor Ward.
Talley and Eric Randall closed their careers for the Eagles at the conclusion of this season as well.
Randall, who had been unable to play all season due to injury, and Talley provided leadership and guidance to the team of younger players, setting the bar for next year’s leaders, according to Hays.
“[Talley] leaves some big shoes to fill,” Hays said. “He has done a lot for us on and off the court. It is up to the guys to see who evolves into that leadership position. They have to take that step forward and accept the responsibility. We will miss Eric Randall because he showed a lot of leadership in the locker room and in practice. If he had been playing, our season would have been different. You cannot use the injury as a crutch, but that is a fact.”
The Eagles finished this season with an overall record of 10-17 with a conference record of 6-12 and non-conference record of 4-5.
Talley finished his senior season with first-team All-Heartland Conference and All-NCCAA Central Region distinctions, as well as All-America honors. He is the first player in the history of the Heartland Conference to lead in scoring, assists and steals – the three foremost statistical sets.
Junior Casey Covalt was named as the National Christian College Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete for men’s basketball, giving further honors to the team.
“Towards the end of the season, we started clicking well and put together good basketball,” Tubbs said. “I think we will be good next year. Losing Kendre will be tough and Randall is a good leader. They showed us how to do it. They showed us how to lead this team for when it is our turn without them.”
Oklahoma Christian will have four returning juniors next season, as well as one sophomore and six returning freshmen.
“Next year I want to make some noise,” Lopez said. “We have good vocal leaders coming back with the juniors who have been taught well by some strong seniors this year. The tournament was go big or go home, and we knew what we had to do going in, but now we have to focus on next year. [We have to] work hard to come back strong.”
The Lady Eagles finished the season with multiple honors as well.
Sophomore Sydney Hill and Hamilton, the Lady Eagles’ top scorers, were both added to the All-National Christian College Athletic Association Central Region team, and Hamilton was placed on the second-team All-Conference team.
Hamilton was also named NCCAA women’s basketball student-athlete of the week during the NCCAA championship and awarded the title of most valuable player during the central region tournament. She was also placed on the All-America second-team, finishing her career at Oklahoma Christian with 1,136 points.
Seven Lady Eagles made the NCCAA Scholar Athlete list. Those honored were juniors Emma Gade, Logan McKee and Kaitlyn Morris. Seniors Talor Ward, Andee Wayne and Hamilton were also on the list.
Krista Stevens, a graduate student, was also featured.
Oklahoma Christian had more players honored than any other women’s basketball team in the NCCAA.
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