Game slips away from Ambassadors late
Dec. 7—Ozark Christian College men's basketball team led for over 25 minutes of Tuesday's contest against Union College inside the Multipurpose Building on the campus of OCC.
Union College (Nebraska) took the lead with 1:29 left in the game on a Blake Essex free throw, completing a three-point play. On their very next possession, the Warriors got a 3-pointer from Derek Warren, who was alone in the right corner, to make it 80-76. That would be too much separation in the final 42 seconds of action for the Ambassadors to come back.
Union (3-4) won by a final mark of 85-82. OCC (3-1) not only led for the majority of the game but also won some statistical categories. Some of which weren't even close.
The Ambassadors doubled the Warriors in the turnover battle. Union committed 24 turnovers to Ozark's 12. The Ambassadors finished the game with 12 steals — six of which came from Tyler Alarid — and the Warriors had just five. Those numbers resulted in a 29-12 advantage for OCC in points off turnovers. The bench play was also key for Ozark on Tuesday with a 23-4 advantage.
Sometimes you can win those numbers and win them big, but the game of basketball can always come down to shooting numbers. and that's where Union got the best of OCC.
The Warriors shot over 50% from the field (32 of 61) and over 30% from deep (7 of 22). Meanwhile, the Ambassadors were just 41% from the field (31 of 75) and about 22% from deep (5 of 23). OCC went 0 for 5 beyond the arc in the second half.
"The big one was we only shot 41% and only made five threes," OCC head coach Chris Lahm said. "That might be a season low for us (threes). You can't rely on the three-point shot to win throughout the season. It's great when it's working. But it's not going to win championships for you."
Lahm noted wanting to see his team play together more when that shot isn't falling and work the offense more.
"We had three straight possessions where we ran what we wanted to run and we got a bucket out of it," Lahm added. "Then we got back in the syndrome where we come down, make one pass and somebody's shooting it. That can't happen."
The flow of the game was back-and-forth all night. Neither team got out to a very large lead. During the first half, Union held a 16-11 lead before seeing OCC go on a 23-11 run to take a seven-point lead.
Essex was a difference maker for the Warriors tallying 34 points and going 9 for 9 at the charity stripe. The 6-foot-8 sophomore also pulled down seven rebounds. The big man had a powerful move and didn't miss many attempts from the painted area. He finished 13 for 17 from the field.
"We knew (Essex) was a good shooter," Lahm said. "He's a great player. We just didn't defend him when we had to and he made the plays."
OCC's Alarid filled the stat sheet in attempt to push the Ambassadors to victory. On top of his six steals, the senior leader dished out three assists, grabbed six rebounds and scored 28 points. Like Essex, Alarid was perfect from the free throw line, going 9 for 9.
The Ambassadors outshot the Warriors on free ones, going 15 of 17 compared with 14 of 20.
These teams met one another back on Nov. 17 in Lincoln, Nebraska. That contest saw OCC come out victorious 92-83. The Ambassadors were also coming off a hot shooting night in which they drilled 19 3-pointers and scored over 100 points against Arlington Baptist.
Ozark is back in action Friday night in Joplin against Spurgeon College. The women's team had their game canceled Tuesday night and won't play again until Saturday at 1 p.m. against Kansas Christian College right before the men tip off against KCC as well.
