Defenses Dominate in Avila's Battle with #7 OKWU

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Both defenses dominated in a low-scoring, well-contested affair, but No. 7 Oklahoma Wesleyan (11-1, 7-0 KCAC) proved its power, ultimately making enough shots to pull away from Avila (2-9, 1-5 KCAC) and earn a 58-39 victory inside Mabee Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.

There are no secrets about it: it's been a challenging season so far for the Avila Eagles and a brilliant season so far for the Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles. OKWU has dominated the recent program series, but, on this night, Avila gave them a serious scare – enough for the team from Kansas City to believe that, if certain things go their way, the next matchup might just look a little different.

Avila held an Oklahoma Wesleyan team that is now averaging 75 points per game on north of 46% field goal shooting to just 58 points on 35% shooting, wholly impressive marks against an undoubtedly great team. But the fact of the matter was that while OKWU didn't get many shots to fall, Avila got even fewer (28%), and OKWU dominated in other areas of the game – namely rebounding and steals – and ultimately cruised to what looks like another relatively comfortable win.

But Avila made sure, for the most part, that it was anything but a comfortable win. Oklahoma Wesleyan is famous for its depth, and Avila head coach Bill Sloan took a page – or, really, a whole chapter – out of OKWU coach Donnie Bostwick's playbook, tapping into Avila's newfound depth by employing the five-in, five-out hockey-style line changes that OKWU is notorious for. That helped Avila get some scoring balance and some depth scoring – but that scoring power was not enough to rally back and beat OKWU.

An early indicator of just how defensive the game would be, neither team scored over the game's first four minutes. OKWU then scored the game's first four points before Avila fired back with five straight courtesy of Octavion Williams and Jonathan Cosby, putting AU up 5-4 with under 12 to play in the first half. But then Jaden Lietzke made two baskets and had a steal to set up two free throws, part of a 6-0 OKWU run to put them ahead 10-5 halfway through the period.

Avila took a timeout to stop the bleeding, but the offense never got in gear, and OKWU led for the rest of the night. Avila got as close as two points before OKWU opened up a seven-point lead at halftime; an once OKWU started the second half with a big scoring run, that set the stage for what became a hard-fought 58-39 victory for the visitors.

Brandon Bird paced Oklahoma Wesleyan with 14 points, while Lietzke had 11 with 11 rebounds. Avila got that depth scoring, with five players tallying between five and nine points, but no one scored more than that. Jorden Gilmete had the nine points on three three-pointers that were clutch at the time; Donte' Simpson led the team with seven boards.

Up next, Avila men's basketball will make the short trip east to take on Ottawa in what's become a legitimate rivalry over the last couple of seasons. It will be a tripleheader of basketball action this Saturday with JV to begin play at 11:45, women's varsity at 2 and men's varsity at 4. As always, you can watch all the action on the KCAC Network, and also listen live on ESPN Wichita as part of the KCAC's Road to Hartman preview series.