Men’s basketball beats OCU in overtime exhibition
Ehsan Azad / Staff Writer
The Mean Green men’s basketball team beat Oklahoma City University 106-100 in overtime in an exhibition match-up Monday night at the Super Pit.
“I don’t care who you play, if you don’t defend it is going to be tough to win games,” head coach Tony Benford said. “These guys showed a lot of resilience and a lot of toughness. We scored enough points, we just got to defend.”
The first half started out slowly for both teams and it took more than two minutes for both teams to finally get on the board. Oklahoma City starting get going offensively as they took an 11-10 lead early in the first-half. The Mean Green took over from there as the team went on a 9-0 run to go up 21-12 with 13:03 minutes left in the first half.
OCU would start to slowly work its way back into the lead. The Mean Green found themselves down by one, before freshman guard Greg White-Pittman hit a three to put the team up 41-39 with 4:40 left in the half.
The game was tied at 47-47 at halftime, but OCU built up a 10 point lead early in the second half. However, the Mean Green responded with a 12-2 run to tie the game back up at 73-73 with 7:50 left in regulation.
While OCU gained a sizable lead down the stretch as large as eight, the Mean Green managed to come from behind in the final minutes. Senior guard Jordan Williams hit a three and senior forward Armani Flannigan added a put back to put team up 88-87.
“I was bringing the guys together, telling them not to give up,” Williams said. “They rode my back and we got the job done.”
OCU had a 90-88 lead with four seconds left in regulation, but Flannigan had a tip-in basket that the sent the game into overtime at 90-90.
In overtime, freshman forward Jeremy Combs hit a free throw and two consecutive layups to help push the Mean Green to victory. Combs came off the bench to score 23 points and grab 11 rebounds in his college debut before fouling out in overtime.
“It felt good to finally get out there and play,” Combs said.
Williams led the team in scoring with 27 points, three rebounds and a block. While the team did well on the offensive end the amount of defensive fouls hurt the team and helped OCU get to the freethrow line 47 times.
“If we would have been playing defense in the first-half, this wouldn’t have even been a game,” Williams said.
The Mean Green will play in its regular season opener Friday at home against the University of Arkansas – Monticello. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.
Featured Image: Senior guard Jordan Williams fights for the ball against two Oklahoma City University defenders during the first exhibition game of the season. Williams led the team in scoring with 27 points. Photo by Harris Buchanan – Staff Photographer
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