Avila Handled by #2 OKWU

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Oklahoma Wesleyan (22-3, 17-2 KCAC), rated the second-best team in the NAIA, lived up to the billing on Saturday, defeating Avila (5-18, 4-14 KCAC) 95-38 on Saturday evening in Bartlesville.

After an extremely hard-fought matchup in Mabee Fieldhouse earlier this season, the Avila Eagles were confident that, should they get to full strength, they could give the Oklahoma Wesleyan Eagles a real scare. Unfortunately, these Eagles were not at full strength, and OKWU, fresh off recent wins over fellow KCAC frontrunners Kansas Wesleyan and Southwestern, made quick work of Avila on Saturday evening.

OKWU had an abysmal shooting night earlier in the week against KWU, but, on this night, none of those problems persisted: OKWU shot better than 50% from the field and 46% from beyond the arc on Saturday, while holding Avila to under 30% in both metrics.

The game was quite even early on: Avila struck first on buckets from Donte' Simpson and Brandon Johnson, and after OKWU scored five straight Avila regained a 6-5 lead on another Johnson make. But Brandon Bird quickly answered with a layup, kickstarting a 9-2 Oklahoma Wesleyan run.

Avila called a timeout to try to stop the bleeding, but it mattered little: OKWU scored nine of the next 10 points out of the timeout before Johnson buried a three-pointer, but Avila could never generate a comeback. Oklahoma Wesleyan steadily pulled away en route to a comfortable home win.

Dylan Phillip led Oklahoma Wesleyan with 16 points off the bench, and Kaleb Stokes scored 12 points and 11 rebounds. Six other Eagles scored eight, nine or 10 points. Johnson paced Avila with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Up next, Avila men's basketball returns home to Mabee Fieldhouse to take on local rivals Ottawa on Wednesday, February 8. A Wednesday tripleheader begins with JV men's basketball at 2:45, with women's following at 5 PM and men's rounding out the night at 7 PM. As always, you can watch all the action on the Avila Sports Network.