Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—In a battle to the bitter end, the Oklahoma Panhandle State University men's basketball team fell to the third-ranked team in the Heartland Conference Monday evening; Lubbock Christian University held on for a 77-73 win over the Aggies.

OPSU Coach Jerry Olson was beaming with pride despite the loss and said this after the game, "I am really, really pleased with our effort and how we competed. There were a couple of times we were down by nine or ten points and our guys kept fighting back; they never gave up."

Seventeen lead changes and five score-ties made the game exciting to say the least. Although the Aggies were down 37-26 at the break averaging 32 percent from the field, five minutes in to the second half they were running on all four cylinders.

A free throw shot from Jared Straight sent the Aggies up by one (43-42) at the 15:18 mark and the two teams went shot-for-shot in the following minutes. Five Aggie fouls gave the Chaps an opportunity to pull ahead by nine points with 8:35 remaining in the game.

LCU would take a nine-point lead again at the 3:29 mark when Alaska's favorite Aggie, Straight, sank a long-distance shot good for three. Antonio Manns, Jr. followed up with a three-point attempt of his own but was fouled in the process and sent to the line; three successful free-throws by Manns put the Aggies back in the game, down by just three points (68-71).

As the clock ticked down the noise level went up in the Oscar Williams Field House as Aggie fans erupted with excitement when Marquavius Williams landed a jumper with 1:11 left to play; the Aggies were within three points of their second conference win (71-73). Forced to foul in the final seconds of the game, time ran out on the Aggies and the Chaps improved their Heartland record to 6-2.

Olson added, "We can really compete if we can hit some open shots. We missed some great shots tonight, but for once we didn't put our heads down and we kept playing defense." In hind-sight Olson felt he should have called a time out to set something up late in the game, but gives due credit to Lubbock Christian saying, "They are very well coached and a really good team; they play how we need to play."

LCU's A.J. Luckey scored a career-high 31 points on the Aggies; Luckey also contributed a team-high six rebounds and five assists. The Chaps now sit in a three-way tie for first place in the conference with St. Edward's and UT-Permian Basin.

For the Aggies Manns once again led his team in both scoring and rebounds finishing with 21 points and eight boards. DeShawn Dean and Marquavius Williams each totaled 12 points; Williams also offered four assists, a team-high. Jared Sraight and Manns combined for seven of the teams' 11 three-point shots on the night. The Aggies averaged 44 percent from the field, 39 percent beyond the arc and 78 percent from the line.

The women's team also competed Monday evening and suffered an 88-49 loss to the Lady Chaps. Tatyana Bell scored a game-high 15 points and tied Kiera Waters for the team-high in rebounds with seven. LCU's Kellyn Schneider earned a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds; Tess Bruffey tied with a team-high of 14 points. The Lady Chaps own the top spot in conference standings with a 12-5 overall record and a 6-1 conference record.

Coach Charles Terry said this of his team, "About all I can say is, they battle. For the most part we played really hard and competed really hard, it's just the same story of not making shots which becomes demoralizing to continue to guard. If we can start shooting and making shots, I truly believe we can compete with anyone in the league."

Both Aggie teams take to the road for the next two weeks continuing conference play in Texas. First stop Austin on Jan. 22 against St. Edward's followed by UTPB on Jan. 24; next week the teams travel to Lubbock to take on LCU at home on Jan. 29 and the Aggie men will finish up in Dallas on Feb. 2 against Dallas Baptist. The Aggies are back in Goodwell on Thursday, Feb. 5 against Newman University for their Pink Out games.