Oakland City, IN - In the opening round of the National Christian College Athletic Association Mideast Regional men's basketball tournament, the Mighty Oaks hosted the Eagles of Asbury University. After struggling to find their offensive rhythm, OCU trailed 42-31 at the halftime break. In the second period, each time the Oaks started to make a run to get back in the game, the Eagles responded, and the final score read 83-69 in favor of the visitors from Asbury University.
JaMarcus Clark led the way for the Oakland City men, scoring 18 points, on 8-21 shooting, while pulling down 10 rebounds.
Abdul Wurie added 12 points and a game high 11 boards, while
Nathaniel Schmittler came up with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Julio Lopez came off the bench to score eight, while
Jacob Sanford chipped in with seven points in the loss. Wurie also had seven blocked shots in a strong defensive effort.
Nick Fort led all scorers, pouring in 25 points for the Eagles, on 9-23 shooting, while nabbing a team high nine rebounds. Eric Powell authored 23 counters, making 9-15 from the field, including 5-7 from three point range. John Shoulders was the only other Asbury player to reach double figures, scoring 13 points on 5-12 shooting.
As a team, the Oaks made 30-65 (46.2%) of their shot attempts, going 2-11 (18.2%) from three point range. The Eagles connected on 32-72 (44.4%) of their field goal tries, including 11-20 (55.0%) from beyond the arc. OCU made 7-12 (58.3%) from the foul line compared to 8-14 (57.1%) for Asbury.
Overall, Oakland City led 47-33 in rebounding, including an 18-14 edge on the offensive boards. OCU trailed 12-9 in assists, turned the ball over 22 times, ten more than Asbury, and had just three steals, also ten less than the Eagles. The Oaks blocked 14 shots, while AU managed to swat away just one attempt by the Oaks.
Asbury University advances either to the NCCAA Regional Championship at Alice Lloyd College, or to the NCCAA National Tournament, held at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana.
The Mighty Oaks finished the season, the first under the direction of
Ken French, with a record of 13-19.
