Tweet #theGAC  BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – Six players from Oklahoma Baptist scored in double figures as the Bison defeated East Central, 94-90, in Friday’s first Great American Conference Men’s Basketball Championships quarterfinal contest from Bruin Fieldhouse.
 
The Bison (21-8) and Tigers (17-12) combined for the highest scoring game in GAC Championship history. The previous record came in a 2018 quarterfinal game between Arkansas-Monticello and ECU. The Weevils won 97-86 in double overtime.
 
Oklahoma Baptist shot 60.7 percent in the first half and maintained a seven-point advantage. The Tigers leveled the contest at 45 before a 9-2 Bison run gave them a lead they would not relinquish. Freshman Jarius Hicklen scored a team-high 20 points off the bench of the Bison. He hit three 3-pointers in the second half as 15 of his points came after halftime. The Bison bench outscored the Tiger reserves by a 38-18 margin.
 
Brantley Thompson converted all seven of his attempts from the floor as he added 17 points. Mohammed Abubakar and Jaquan Simms chipped in 13 while Dishon Lowery and Rashad Lewis added 10. Lewis totaled a game-high seven assists. Hicklen, Simms and Thompson made 10 of the Bison’s 11 3-pointers.
 
Three Tigers scored 20 points apiece in the defeat. Gerren Jackson finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He went 4-for-5 from the 3-point arc. First-Team All-GAC selection Camron Talley and Tyler Arnold added 21. Talley finished his career second on the GAC’s 3-point field goals list with 328, trailing only his former teammate, Braxton Reeves’ 346. His 1,954 points ranked third to fellow First-Team selections Jhonathan Dunn, from Southern Nazarene, and Southeastern Oklahoma State’s Kevin Buckingham.
 
Oklahoma Baptist will take on the Southern Nazarene in Saturday’s noon semifinal contest in a matchup featuring two of the Central Region’s top eight teams. The Crimson Storm ranked second while the Bison placed eighth in Wednesday’s release. During the regular season, the Crimson Storm won 79-62 at home on January 16. The Bison enacted a measure of revenge with a 59-56 win in Shawnee on February 13.