Men's Basketball | 2/19/2022 8:34:00 PM
Box Score GOODWELL, Okla. - The Panhandle State Men's basketball team ended their regular season at home against the #16 Southwestern Assemblies of God Lions. The Aggies would battle out the win 66-76. A big win for the Aggies as they now set their sights on the conference tournament.
The Aggies battled hard on the boards in their win over the Lions. Head Coach Mark Laird looks to ride the momentum into the conference tournament. "We knew that this was gonna be a hard game to win. Even though they were down a few really good players...they are a very deep and well-coached team! We did a great job defensively and won the boards. We forced 19 turnovers and only had 12. I'm also very happy to be able to give TC his 1st win over SAGU in 5 yrs here at OPSU...and make his last game in Anchor D Arena a win. We will get ready for a tough 1st round SAC tourney road game on Tues. It's a new season now!"
The Lions and the Aggies come into this matchup as two of the top five scoring offenses in the Sooner Athletic Conference. In their last matchup of the season, the Lions would come out on top 68-86. A game where the Aggies struggled on the boards. This time around, however, the Lions would be shorthanded. Allowing the Aggies to take full advantage of the mismatches and pull out a good team win.
Auston Chatman would be a key aspect of the Aggies win. Pulling down ten rebounds in just the first quarter. Chatman would finish the contest with his second double-double of the season. Rayquan Elliott, Justin Pile, and Jalen Thomas would all reach double-digit points in the game. Completely an all-around team effort to pull off the upset against the number sixteen team in the NAIA.
Panhandle State (11-15, 8-13 SAC) heads into the conference tournament with some momentum as they defeat the Southwestern Assemblies of God Lions (19-7, 16-5 SAC) on a senior day. Coming into the first half with their usual full-court press to create extra possessions for the Aggies. A tactic that was effective in the first half as the Aggies caused ten Lion turnovers.
The Aggies would take a thirteen-point lead into the half. Junior Chatman would pull down ten rebounds by himself to go along with his four-second chance points. Consistently getting extra possessions in the first half the Aggies were able to stifle any chance of the Lions getting momentum in the half.
In the second half, the Lions would come out with the same mentality as the Aggies had in the first half. To create extra possessions by generating turnovers. The Aggies would have ten turnovers to the Lions' nine in the half. Despite the difference in turnovers the Aggies were able to make their shots count as they held a fifty-two percent shooting percentage in the half and a seventy-three percent percentage from the charity stripe.
Panhandle State would finish the contest with a 45% shooting percentage from the field and a 32% shooting percentage from beyond the arc. Elliott would account for four of the seven three-pointers in the game leading to his team high twenty-seven points. The SAC Player of the Week Jalen Thomas would extend his double-digit scoring streak to seventeen games as the Aggies finish their regular season.
