By Heather Kennedy | St. Mary's Athletic Communications
OKLAHOMA CITY – The difference in the game was at the free throw line on Saturday afternoon as Oklahoma Christian made more (28) than St. Mary's attempted (23) as the other shooting statistics were almost identical in the Rattlers' 85-69 loss.
With the setback, the Rattlers are now 9-8 overall and 1-4 in Heartland Conference play, while the Eagles improve to 6-10 on the year and 1-4 in league action. The men's basketball team looked to snap a two-game losing streak as they entered Oklahoma City on Saturday afternoon, but the Eagles had other ideas as they were in search of their first conference victory.
Both teams made 26 field goals and five three-pointers on the day, but the Rattlers were more efficient, connecting on 48.1 percent from the field (26-for-54) and 29.4 percent from the three-point line (5-for-17), compared to 46.4 percent (26-for-56) and 22.7 percent (5-for-22) for the Eagles. The major discrepancy in the game was at the free throw line, where the Eagles were 28-of-35 (80 percent) while the Rattlers were 12-of-23 (52.2 percent). OCU had five players score five or more at the charity stripe.
For the first time since Nov. 26, senior forward Petar Radojicic (Ljubovija, Serbia) led the Rattlers in scoring, tallying 17 points – 14 of which came in the first half, while freshman Caleb Jordan (Midlothian, Texas) was also in double figures with 11 points and he led the team with five assists and three steals. Junior Matej Gaspert (Zagreb, Croatia) came off the bench to lead the team in rebounds with five – and all of them came in the second stanza, while senior Skyler Brooks (Seguin, Texas) had a game-best two blocked shots.
The Eagles had a balanced scoring attack with five players in double figures. Aubrey Johnson came off the bench to lead the way with 22 points, while Marcus Blackwell scored 18, Jordan Box and Roderick Smith each tallied 14 and Will Lienhard chipped in 10. Smith grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, while Box dished out six assists and Johnson had three steals.
The Rattlers return home to host Rogers State and UAFS on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon, respectively. The game against Rogers State is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday's contest is supposed to start at 3 p.m. and tickets are still available for both.
