Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score Goodwell, Okla.—The OPSU men's basketball team notched their first conference victory Thursday evening in an exciting 83-72 contest with Oklahoma Christian University.

The Eagles would only get a taste of the lead twice in the opening minutes of play and then it was all Aggies for the rest of the game. Melvin Mitchell put OPSU on the board with the first three of the game and the Aggies went on to make seven of their next nine three-point attempts and held a 13-point advantage with 8:43 left in the half. At the break the Aggies were on top by a score of 43-33 with senior Zoran Arsenovic leading the team with ten points including two threes. OC's John Moon led the game in scoring with 14 points; Moon surpassed the 1,000-career-point milestone in the first half.

Both teams were averaging 50 percent in shooting after twenty minutes of play. The Eagles led in the paint 22-6, while the Aggies were hot beyond the arc scoring 33 points off long-distance shots. OPSU went an uncharacteristic 0-3 from the line in the opening half of the game.

In the second half the Eagles started things off with a three, but neither team would land a shot from the outer marker until almost ten minutes had ticked off the clock. Senior Jared Straight sank a three-pointer with 10:35 minutes remaining, giving the Aggies their largest lead of the game by a 20-point margin. OC then took the Aggies to the line and started forcing fouls in the final ten minutes of play; back on track the Aggies made 11 of 15 free-throw attempts and clinched the conference win by eleven points.

The Aggies finished the game with a 52.7 percent shooting average from the field, and averaged 42.9 percent at three-point range and 65 percent from the line. Oklahoma Christian went 45 percent from the field, 40.9 percent in threes and 75 percent in free-throws. Moon earned the game-high in scoring with 28 points and came close to a double-double with a game-high of nine rebounds; he also held the team-high in assists with four and got one block on the night.

For the Aggies it was Arsenovic who put up the most points, scoring 20 for the night.  Arsenovic also took the team-high in rebounds with eight and got away with four steals which got the game-high. All OPSU starters landed double-digit points with Antonio Manns, Jr. and Melvin Mitchell scoring 15 each,; Marquavius Williams and Dedrick Shannon, Jr. each earned 11 points. Jared Straight, Trey Fankhouser and Collin Miller accounted for the remaining 11 points from the bench.

With the win, the Aggies improve to 8-5 on the season and 1-4 in conference play. Head Coach Jerry Olson said this after the game, "It was a good win; the guys played really well. We played good defense and were getting balanced scoring which is hard to guard; it pulled the focus off of Antonio and opened up shots for other guys. I also thought we shared the ball well with 20 assists on 29 baskets." Dedrick Shannon, Jr. was a leading contributor offering a game-high of six assists.

The Aggies will take the court again Saturday for another Heartland matchup. The OPSU men will pair up against a 9-4 Newman team that currently owns two wins within the league. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. following the women's game which starts at 1 p.m.