OKLAHOMA CITY – The Rogers State men used overtime Thursday evening inside the Eagles' Nest to skim past the Oklahoma Christian Eagles, 98-94, for the Hillcats seventh straight win.
 
RSU got off to a hot start in overtime with a 7-1 run behind a pair of Matt Lea layups and a Baron Smith Jr. 3-pointer to take an 87-81 lead with 2:37 to go. The Hillcats would then use sharp shooting from the free throw line, hitting 11-of-12, to hold off the Eagles for the victory as 50 personal fouls were called between the two teams through the 45 minutes of play.
 
After trailing 41-39 at the half, the Hillcats opened the second half with a 6-0 run bookended by JD Tisdale layups. The senior transfer from Bowling Green University tallied 21 points in the second half on the way to a career high 30 points. The Flint, Mich. native shot 7-of-8 from the field in the second stanza.
 
OC took the lead on a Keilan Horton jumper just 4:36 into the second half to spark a 6-0 Eagle run. John Moon's layup with 14:28 to go would give the Eagles its largest lead of the game at 52-47.
 
The Eagles lead wouldn't last long as Jeylyn Sharpe turned a steal into a layup and put the Hillcats up, 55-53, with 11:19 remaining. OC would hang tight, tying the contest twice but never taking a lead, until Horton scored five unanswered points on his own to push the Eagles in the lead 75-73 with 2:59 to go.
 
Coach Justin Barkley used a time out to draw up a play for the hot Tisdale and found the senior guard on the right block off the inbounds play to tie the contest just seconds later. An OC turnover allowed the Hillcats to regain the lead as Lea used a skyhook over the seven-foot-tall Joh Moon to give RSU a 77-75 lead with 1:43 left.
 
Dorian Lopez answered with a wing 3-pointer with just under 90 seconds remaining but Tisdale responded with a left-wing long distance answer against the Eagles 2-3 zone with 1:02 left for a two point lead. OC would come up empty offensively but the Hillcats were unable to put the Eagles away after a Moon block and a missed jumper gave the ball back to the home club.
 
OC would put the ball in the hands of Marcus Mathieu with 10 seconds left. The junior guard sliced to the basket but the help defense of Chris Ikuenobe altered Mathieu's shot but the Eagles' senior center Moon grabbed the offensive rebound and quickly shoved the ball back towards the rim and in with just 1.3 seconds left to tie the game at 80-80.
 
In the opening half of action, RSU held the lead for 7:09 but OC kept the Hillcats from scoring a field goal in the final 2:28 of the half and the Eagles took a 41-39 advantage into the intermission. OC visited the charity stripe 18 times in the first half shooting 83 percent while the Hillcats made 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.
 
Horton led the Eagles with a team high 23 points as OC's five game starters all scored in double-figures. Lopez added 21 points, Elijah Strickland finished with 17 while Mathieu and Moon chipped in 13 and 12 points respectively. Oklahoma Christian (8-15, 3-12) shot 52 percent from the field, 48 percent from 3-point and 81 percent from free throw besting the Hillcats in all three categories.
 
Tisdale led all scorers with 30 points while Baron Smith Jr. made 5-of-6 free throws in the overtime period on the way to 20 points for the game. Jeylyn Sharpe added 16 points as the senior from Ketchum, Okla. was limited to just 26 minutes of action after fouling out with 4:19 left in regulation.
 
With the victory RSU moved to 10-5 in overtime games in program history and 5-3 in road overtime contests. The win was the eighth straight for RSU in the series with the Eagles. The Hillcats also remain atop the Heartland Conference just a game in front of UA Fort Smith and a game and half ahead of Dallas Baptist and Texas A&M International with two games left for the Cats.
 
Rogers State (19-7, 12-4) will travel to Austin, Texas to face the St. Edward's Hilltoppers at 3 p.m. in the second of a three-game road trip. RSU Radio 91.3 FM will broadcast the action with live audio streaming available on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live.