GOODWELL, Okla. – Oklahoma Panhandle State University men's basketball notched its first Sooner Athletic Conference victory of the young season by taking down Southwestern Christian University, 89-72, at Anchor D Arena. The Aggies evened their overall record at 2-2 and 1-2 in the SAC, while the Eagles fell to 3-4 on the year and 2-2 in conference game.
 
It was an especially satisfying win for OPSU versus a SCU team that, in the past week, had defeated NAIA No. 3-ranked Mid-America Christian University and perennially-tough Wayland Baptist in overtime. Panhandle also held the high-flying Eagles, which came in averaging nearly 86 points per game, well below their season scoring average.
 
"I'm very proud of how we responded after a rough road trip," OPSU Head Coach Mark Laird said.  "We knew we hadn't played as well as we can, defensively. We did that tonight!
Lots of guys stepped up and we executed our game play pretty well. We can enjoy this tonight, but we had a very tough week coming up. No easy nights in this conference."
 
The game was never much in doubt, as Panhandle took control early and never looked back. The teams swapped baskets early before, with the score standing at 6-6, OPSU tallied the next four points on its way to building a 44-38 halftime advantage. By 17:35 of the second half, OPSU hit a double-digit lead, 51-40, on a short jumper in the paint by Alfred Alkannama, maintaining that cushion the bulk of the second half.
 
But it was freshman Jalen Thomas, from Amarillo's Palo Duro High School, who had the best game of his young collegiate career and perhaps gave a glimpse into the future. Thomas canned 8-of-14 shots from the field and was 8-for-10 from the charity stripe, on his way to a team-high 24 points. He also pulled down three rebounds and had three assists on his ledger.
 
Alkannama was close behind, booking 22 points, with his top scoring game as an Aggie, as well. Alkannama was 8-of-14 from the floor, grabbed three rebounds and gave off four assists.
 
DK Sumo IV and Justin Pile rounded out the quartet of double-figure scorers for OPSU by chipping in 18 and 13 points, respectively. Sumo had a nice all-around effort with six rebounds, six assists, a block and three steals in the win.
 
Pile finished the day with a double-double, with a game-leading 11 rebounds. Pile was 6-of-9 from the field.
 
The Aggies will try to make it two-straight wins on Tuesday (January 19) when the team travels to Wayland Baptist University.