Oakland City, IN - The Mighty Oaks men's basketball team opened River States Conference play by hosting the Eagles of Midway University in the Johnson Center on Wednesday. After falling behind 42-26 at the halftime buzzer, Oakland City University was unable to overcome their deficit, losing 70-55. OCU now holds a 2-6 record overall, while Midway improves to 3-4 on the year.
Sam Muller, a transfer into the Mighty Oaks team, led the way for the Oaks, posting 14 points on 7-11 shooting, while nabbing a game-best 12 rebounds.
Gichairo Berika, also new to the OCU side, was the only other Mighty Oak to reach double figures, scoring 10 points on 3-3 shooting, while going 4-6 from the foul line. Berika also had two blocked shots in the loss.
Jalen Cincore paced the Eagles, scoring a game high 21 points on 9-13 shooting, including making his only three point attempt, while going 2-3 from the charity stripe. Donnie Miller came off the bench to score 14, while Nick Keeton hauled in a team high eight rebounds to go with seven points.
As a team, the Oaks made 24-59 (40.7%) from the field, including 3-17 (17.6%) from three point range. Midway connected on 27-57 (47.4%) of their shot attempts, going 3-13 (23.1%) from long range. Oakland City University struggled again at the foul line, a theme to this point in the season, making just 4-13 (30.8%) of their free throw attempts. The Eagles went 13-16 (81.3%) from the foul line.
Both teams grabbed 36 rebounds in the game, with Oakland City leading 11-7 on the offensive glass. The teams were also tied in steals with six apiece, while OCU held a 13-9 advantage in assists, also holding an 8-2 edge in blocked shots. Turnovers were 14-10 in favor of the visitors.
Next up for the Oaks is a road contest at Indiana University Southeast on Saturday, December 2. Game time in New Albany, Indiana, is scheduled to tip off at 2:00 pm central time, following the women's matchup of River States Conference opponents.
