CLARKSVILLE, Ark. – East Texas Baptist University had a hard time shutting down a hot-shooting University of the Ozarks team as they fell on the road in American Southwest Conference East play, 81-65. Ozarks shot 55 percent overall but mad 75 percent of the shots in the second half from the floor. ETBU falls to 6-9 overall and 2-7 in the ASC East.
Chris Collins led ETBU with 17 points while Jaron Joseph had 12 points. Justin Felicia led the team with eight rebounds and Joseph grabbed seven. Ronnie Dodd had 22 points for the University of the Ozarks.
Ozarks started the game on an 11-0 run as ETBU did not make their first bucket until the 14:39 mark. From that point on, ETBU had to play from behind. ETBU did cut the lead to seven, 13-6, on a 6-2 run on Collins' first points of the game. That is as close as ETBU would come to Ozarks the rest of the game. Ozarks had a 15-point lead, 31-16, with 4:42 left in the half before ETBU cut the lead to 10 at the half, 32-22.
ETBU came within seven in the second half, 54-47, with 10:48 left on a Collins jumper. It was a 12-2 run over two and half minutes for ETBU after being down 17. Collins had six of the 12 points while Seth Powers added four in the run. Ozarks defense then holds ETBU to just one bucket in the next two and half minutes as they respond with an 8-2 run for a 15-point lead, 62-47. The lead never dropped to single digits again.
ETBU shot 40 percent overall but made only 10 percent of their three-pointers and 23 percent of their free throws. They only turned the ball over six times and had four blocks. Ozarks shot 55 percent from the floor, 54 percent from beyond the arc, and 79 percent from the foul line. Both teams had 37 rebounds each.
ETBU will host Texas-Tyler on Tuesday, January 15th, at 7:30 p.m. in an ASC East game in Ornelas Gym.