Eastern wins final home game of season

By Corey Stolzenbach, McAlester News-Capital

Eastern Oklahoma State College came out on top in the opening round of the NJCAA Region II tournament at home Monday night.

The Mountaineers (15-12) took down Arkansas Baptist College, 103-94, for the right to play Connors State College (26-3) at 6 p.m. Thursday at Shawnee. It was the Mountaineers' third win in the last five games.

"It's a time of urgency," Eastern head coach Scott Edgar said. "It will be harder Thursday night than it is now."

Eastern took a 1-0 lead before tipoff on a Tevin Brewer free throw, which came on a penalty of Arkansas Baptist dunking during practice, but after that, it would take a bit before the Mountaineers regained the lead.

The Buffaloes jumped out to a 9-1 lead within the first two minutes and were up, 21-13, with less than 12 minutes remaining in the first half, but Eastern began to rally. The Mountaineers were 3-of-17 in 3-point shooting in the first half against Arkansas Baptist on Monday, but the first one came from Kaelen Childs, whose 3-pointer cut that to a 21-16 deficit and later to 21-20.

Arkansas Baptist was up 23-20 when a former Buffalo, a former McAlester Buffalo, Todd Dawkins, tied the game at 23 from 3-point land with just more than nine minutes remaining in the first half. There was some more back and forth action as it would be tied at 27 and later 29 before the Mountaineers went on a 6-0 run and it was 52-38 at the half.

"They out-executed us," Edgar said about the Buffaloes jumping ahead early. "...I think their size, and I think their physicality and their speed down the floor affected us early."

Edgar pointed out Arkansas Baptist has players who have an age advantage on the Mountaineers because the age restrictions in junior college are not those of NCAA Division I basketball. He said he once tried it himself at Eastern, but it did not work.

Dawkins was someone whose scoring productivity increased in the second half. His 3-pointer was his lone bucket of the first half, but he wound up with 18 points total. It looked like the Mountaineers were going to run away with things. At one point they were up, 89-70, with less than five minutes to go and and 91-75 with just more than four minutes remaining, but the Buffaloes cut it to 95-84 with under three minutes left in the game, and even thoughArkansas Baptist never seriously threatened McAlester's lead, Edgar said the Mountaineers took some possessions off in the second half.

"Our transition defense wasn't good," he said. "Your top teams don't take possessions off."

Leading the way in the scoring department for Eastern Monday night was Elisha Hobbs, who had 30. Tevin Brewer scored 28 points, and also 10 assists for the double double.

Edgar said the game Eastern will be playing on Tuesday is "winning at rehab." He said that the likes of Brewer and Hobbs played way too much. Edgar said there will be some icing on Tuesday, with nothing more than ball handling, stretching and free throws.

The Mountaineers have played Connors twice, and lost both times. The first game was a 97-88 defeat Jan. 29, and the two teams played on Thursday, with the Cowboys prevailing in a 103-82 win. Edgar said the team will take a look at Connors on Wednesday.

"We have to play our best basketball and we have to play two complete halves of basketball," Edgar said about the Connors game. "Each time we played them, I think we've only played one half, in the second half. They can at you pretty good and they can punch you early and they can stay on top of you and...hopefully we can get back to 100 percent by Thursday."