CLAREMORE, Okla. - On a night in which the Hillcats closed out the home slate of the schedule, the No. 25 Rogers State men's basketball team shutdown No. 10 Oklahoma Baptist, 72-60, inside the Claremore Expo Monday night.
The first ten minutes saw the two squads feel each other out, as neither squad took more than a four point lead and the lead changed hands four times. A John Boyd lay-in off an Alburey Doss assist gave RSU a 15-14 lead with 10:06 to go in the opening period.
OBU responded going on a 10-2 run over the next five and a half minutes, spurred by the play of junior Maurice Foster with seven points. Coach Justin Barkley's squad answered the Bison blitz with a 10-2 run of their own, fueled by a Hillcat full-court press, tying the contest at 27-27 with just over a minute remaining. Matt Kellogg gave the Cats a lead they wouldn't relinquish the remainder of the game, with a left wing 3-pointer with nine seconds before the intermission. The Bison trailed RSU 30-27 heading into the half.
Barkley and the Cats stepped on the gas to start the second half building the lead to 39-29 in the opening two minutes of the contest. A traditional 3-point play by Kevin Swinton followed by a made free throw by Foster trimmed the RSU lead to three points with less than 11 minutes remaining. The Hillcats quickly got the lead back to 10 points with 8:22 remaining when Boyd tipped in a Doss miss.
Over the next three minutes the Bison trimmed the RSU lead to eight points three times. Back-to-back lay-ups by Doss gave RSU a 61-49 lead with 4:29 to go. Foster put OBU within nine with 2:05 remaining on a jumper, marking the closest the Bison would be to the Cats for the remainder of the game. Deveric Taylor knocked in a pair of free throws with 1:23 left on the clock to give RSU its widest margin of the game at 72-58 over the top 10 Bison. Foster threw in a dunk with 17 seconds remaining to put the score at its final mark of 72-60.
The victory stretched the RSU winning streak to six games over 13 days and was the second win over a ranked opponent in five days.
Oklahoma Baptist (21-7, 15-5) was led in scoring by Foster with 19 points. Derick Echols dropped in 11 while Swinton finished with 15 in the scoring column, going 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. The Bison hit only 37 percent from the field and 13 percent from long distance.
The two-squads were excellent from the line hitting 75 percent each.
After being named Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Week earlier in the day, senior forward John Boyd started his campaign to repeat by leading the Hillcats in scoring with 18 points and six boards. Matt Kellogg finished with 15, going 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Chris Francis made the most of his final game inside the Claremore Expo dropping in 11 points in 31 minutes of play. RSU set a school record with 9 blocks as Boyd and Brandon Mims swatted three apiece.
Rogers State (18-9, 14-6) will head on the road for the West Texas two-step, facing Wayland Baptist on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. The game will be carried on RSU Radio 91.3FM.
