Senior Elijah Strickland posted his first career double-double and a career high in points as the Oklahoma Christian University men’s basketball team won the game against Manhattan Christian College, 118–79, Nov. 28.
Strickland had 33 points, including 10–15 from the field and 9–13 from behind the three-point line, and 10 rebounds in 33 minutes of play.
Five other players scored in double figures for the Eagles, including junior Jordan Box who had 19 points on 5 of 7 three-point shooting to go along with five assists and four rebounds.
Junior Charles Shaw scored 13 points off the bench and added six assists. Senior Miroslav Jaksic had 12 points and three blocks.
Freshman Larry Kuimi had 11 points and seven rebounds and junior Roderick Smith had 10 points and nine rebounds.
Oklahoma Christian made 18 of the 29 three-pointers attempted and outrebounded the Thunder 56–28.
The Eagles held a 60–34 lead going into halftime and the other team never got closer than 20 points from there.
In their first game against a Heartland Conference opponent this season, the Eagles were outscored 8–2 in the final 70 seconds and lost the game 83–82 to Newman University Dec. 2.
Only three players scored in double figures for Oklahoma Christian, led by Strickland who had 27 points.
The team shot 55.2 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three, but they also shot 55 percent on free throws–the lowest of the season.
Smith posted his first career double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds and Shaw added 13 points off the bench.
Following the loss to Newman, Strickland became the 41st player in the history of the program to score 1,000 career points.
He was also recognized as both the Heartland Conference men’s basketball player of the week and the Eagle of the Week.
For the Lady Eagles, they fell to Emporia State University 107–88 despite a career high 42 points from junior Addy Clift Nov. 29.
Clift scored her 42 points in just 32 minutes, shooting 13–21 from the field and making 11 of 13 from the free-throw line. She was the only player for Oklahoma Christian to score in double figures.
Clift’s performance was the highest single-game scoring performance by a female basketball player in Heartland Conference history and just one-point shy of the Oklahoma Christian scoring record.
The Lady Eagles were outrebounded 57–33 and only had nine assists compared to the Hornet’s 24.
In their second game, the Lady Eagles returned home to play Newman, dropping their third straight game, 91–76, Dec. 2.
Clift again led the team with 18 points.
Freshman Katie Mayo was the only other player in double figures for Oklahoma Christian with 10 points. She also added five rebounds coming off the bench.
Senior Audrey Hayes had eight points and six rebounds.
The Jets closed out the game on a 15–6 run through the final four minutes.
After the two games, Clift was named the Heartland Conference women’s basketball player of the week, giving Oklahoma Christian a clean sweep of the award.
The women will play Northwestern Oklahoma State University Dec. 5 and the men play Dec. 9 against Oklahoma Baptist University. The Lady Eagles tipoff at 7 p.m. in the Nest.
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