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Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—The Aggies dropped two games against Heartland Conference opponents this week, being defeated 94-63 to Rogers State Thursday evening and 102-81 in Saturday's Winter Homecoming game against the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith.
On Thursday the Hillcats out-shot the Aggies by a margin of more than 25 percent from the field; OPSU averaged 29.1 percent in shooting while RSU connected on 55 percent of their attempts. OPSU fell behind at the boards 27-37, and offered only six assists for the game while Rogers State totaled 22. The game's leading scorer was Jordan Huffman with 18 points for the Hillcats; four other RSU players broke double-digits.
Antonio Manns, Jr. and
Zoran Arsenovic led the Aggies in scoring, totaling 16 and 15 points respectively. Manns also shared the game-high in rebounds with six along with RSU's J.C. Hartzler. Rogers State currently sits second in the conference with a 19-5 overall record and eleven wins in the league.
Manns was kept quiet throughout the first half of Saturday's matchup with UAFS, allowed just one shot from the field that missed the mark. At the break the Aggies were down 33-47 and averaged 33.3 percent in shooting. The Lions had landed eleven of 17 from beyond the arc and held a 63 percent overall shooting average.
The Aggies improved to a 41.7 percent average in the second half, but were out-matched at the boards 21-12 and gave up 18 points to the Lions on fast break shots. Manns was back in form scoring 16 points after the break, but the bulk of the Aggies' points came from the bench led by
Jared Straight and
Robert McCalley who combined for 21 total points for the game. Overall OPSU outscored the Lions 41-13 on the performance of non-starters, with bench players accounting for seven of the Aggies' eight three-pointers made in the game, two each from Straight, McCalley and
Jake Regier and one by
Sita Sesay; Manns was responsible for the other three.
Conversely, of the 102 points scored by UAFS, the Lions' starting five combined for 89. Alex Cooper earned 33 on his own efforts, and went 7-12 at three-point range. Guard Seth Youngblood totaled 22 points off six threes and two layups and DaVaunta Thomas had eight shots from the field for 18 points. The Lions spread out their shots with 26 assists on the game; the Aggies totaled 15 led by
Dedrick Shannon, Jr. with six. Cooper and Thomas shared the game-high in assists with Shannon dishing out six each.
Fort Smith gained 40 rebounds led by Kenny Martin, who earned a double-double with 14 rebounds and 12 total points. The Aggies had 29 boards spread among eight players;
Marquavius Williams led the team with six followed by
Zoran Arsenovic and
Dedrick Shannon, Jr., each with five rebounds on the day. The Aggies drop to an 8-16 overall record and hold one win in the Heartland Conference.
Of both performances OPSU Men's Basketball Head Coach
Jerry Olson conceded, "Basically they were really, really good and we were really bad." Although his team improved on Saturday he felt they were playing selfish basketball, with only six assists in the game against Rogers State. He also added on the Hillcats, "They are a really well-coached team and it's a shame they can't make the tournament." RSU completes its final year of provisional membership into the Heartland Conference this year and will be eligible for post-season play in the 2016-2017 season.
The Aggie men take to the road this week, traveling to Odessa, Texas on Thursday, Feb. 18 to play a 12-12 Texas-Permian Basin team. On Saturday, the Aggies compete in Austin against St. Edward's University, who sits 16-8 on the season with nine wins in the conference. OPSU Basketball returns to Goodwell for their final home games of the year next week, taking on Texas A&M-International on Feb. 25 and St. Mary's on Feb. 27; senior athletes will be recognized prior to Saturday's game.
