by Joe Epkey
Oakland City, IN - The Mighty Oaks men's basketball team was back in action at the Johnson Center early Monday for the Champions of Character Classic against the Pioneers of Crowley's Ridge College. Oakland City University got back in the win column with an 85-77 victory, now winning four of its last five games the Mighty Oaks record stands at 6-7 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
The Wood Memorial Primary and Intermediate School students were in attendance and did a fantastic job performing the national anthem and announcing the starting lineups for the game. The first half was full of fast, physical play that included ten lead changes and multiple bloody jerseys, before the Mighty Oaks took a 41-40 lead into the half. Oakland City University's
Drake Moore led the way in the first scoring 15 points, he finished the game with 19 going 7-11 (63.6%) from the field, seven rebounds and four assists in 31 minutes of action.
Crowley's Ridge College's Gavin Hall and George McCurdy kept the Pioneers in the game in the first half but did not have enough to stop the Mighty Oaks who had five different players score in double figures. Hall had a team high 23 points on 10-19 (52.6%) shooting for the game and McCurdy finished with 21 points going 9-17 (52.9%) from the field for the Pioneers.
After a close first half the Mighty Oaks came out strong in the second and never looked back. Freshman
Jaylen Mullen gave some great minutes in the second half finishing the game with 13 points on 3-5 (60%) shooting and going 6-7 (85.7%) from the free-throw line in 11 minutes of play.
Late in the second half after a block and a couple of strong finishes from junior
Sam Muller around the 5:30 mark, and a made 3 pointer from
DJ Redding, the Mighty Oaks took their biggest lead of the game with 4:06 remaining. Muller finished the game with a double-double scoring 19 points and 10 rebounds adding in three assists and two blocks. Redding finished the game with 11 points, six assists, three steals and was a perfect 6-6 from the stripe.
CRC did their best to keep the game close but in the end OCU held on for the win leading in almost every statistical category. As a team the Mighty Oaks shot 49% from the field, dominated the boards holding a 44 to 28 advantage, had 8 blocks, 17 assists and went 23-33 (69.7%) from the line.
After a tough 80-85 loss to River States Conference Opponent IU East last Tuesday and a lengthy break for the holidays, the Mighty Oaks look to get back on track in league play as they head to Alice Lloyd College on January 2
nd.
