Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—It was a grand finale for OPSU basketball as the women's and men's teams played their final home games of the season against St. Edward's University Saturday afternoon in the Oscar Williams Field House.

Both games came down to the final seconds and both games resulted in heartbreaking one-point losses for the Aggies; the women fell 67-68 and the men's score ended at 73-74.

It was senior recognition day for the OPSU women's team with forward Jaclyn Becker and center Hannah Tatum each being honored prior to tip-off. Becker shined from start to finish scoring the first points of the game with a three-point shot off a Hilltopper turnover. The Aggies held the lead through the 17-minute mark when SEU tied things up at 6-6 with a jumper in the paint. The Toppers went on to score 14 unanswered points over the next five minutes and sent the Aggies to the locker room down by 10 at the break (25-35).

The Aggies opened the second half with another three, this time from the hands of Kiera Waters, who followed up with a layup to bring the Aggies within five points of the Hilltoppers' lead. As the clock ticked down the Aggies heated up, tying the game at 59-59 with 3:35 left to play. Both teams traded shots at the line and it was senior Jaclyn Becker who scored the final free-throws for the Aggies putting her team up by one point with 35 seconds on the clock; but SEU's Aimee Durbidge came through with a clutch layup in the final five seconds to strip the win.

Coach Charles Terry was extremely proud of his team and his seniors saying, "We played like I had hoped to play all year. Our two seniors played very well and we competed hard the whole game."

OPSU improved on ball security and capitalized on Topper turnovers scoring 30 points off 15 total take-aways; SEU totaled 23 turnovers to the Aggies' 12 for the game. The Aggies outscored St. Ed's in the paint 30-26 as well as on fast break points 8-0; Sade Tutson scored all eight fast-break points for OPSU. The main area of discrepancy was at the boards where SEU out-matched the Aggies 47-30 in rebounds for a total of 19 second-chance points.

Becker led the game in scoring with 18 points going 3-4 from three-point range and 5-6 from the line. Senior Hannah Tatum had two key rebounds that each resulted in points for the Aggies and she finished with nine points of her own and one steal. Waters earned her first double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and also contributed a game-high six assists and five steals. Tutson totaled 12 points and four steals on the game. Leading scorers for the Hilltoppers were Kathleen Brisbane with 11 points and Aimee Durbidge with ten; Durbidge also earned a double-double with 10 rebounds while teammate Khiani Clark totaled a game-high 11.

The Aggie men got off to a great start and were leading 42-27 at the half; Antonio Manns, Jr. and Marquavius Williams combined for 26 of those points and the Aggies were leading at the boards 16-8 after the first twenty minutes of play. John Lazenby opened up the scoring with a three-pointer and was followed up by Williams with another three putting the Aggies up 6-1 with only two minutes off the clock. The Aggies went 6-9 from beyond the arc and scored 14 points off of 14 Hilltopper fouls in the first half averaging 88 percent from the line.  

Turnovers were key in the second half as the Toppers, only committing one turnover after the break, scored 15 points off lost balls by the Aggies. OPSU dropped to 14 percent in three-point shooting in the second half and were outscored 28-14 in the paint. The Aggies held an 11-point lead through the four-minute mark when turnovers took their toll giving St. Ed's 12 points off takeaways and a one-point advantage with less than a minute to play. Manns sank a layup and was fouled on the way up giving the Aggies a two-point lead with 15 seconds on the clock; the Hilltoppers answered with a layup to tie the game but were also fouled and took the one-point win in the end after making the free-throw.

Manns earned his second double-double and game-highs with 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Aggies. Williams totaled 17 points and Lazenby led the team with three assists and three steals and also brought down eight rebounds for the game. Ramir Burton scored a team-high 23 points for the Toppers.

Aggie men's coach Jerry Olson was proud of the discipline his team displayed in sticking with the game plan and pleased with their overall effort saying, "I thought the kids deserved the win; we've never been ahead and had to work in that situation. Antonio played really well as did Quay (Williams); it killed us when he got hurt (Williams)." He continued mentioning a few things that need improvement, "We need to find open guys and go attack the basket; we were going the wrong direction in the second half when we needed to go inside. We gave away turnovers for easy points and started getting conservative towards the end."

Both Aggie teams drop to 3-23 overall and each own one win in the Heartland Conference. The Aggies will wrap up the 2014-2015 season on the road this week with games in Laredo and San Antonio, Texas. Thursday the men and women will face Texas A&M-International and will conclude the season at St. Mary's on Saturday. Good luck and safe travels to our Aggie basketball teams!