LAREDO, Texas (Feb. 14, 2019) – Channeling his inner John Moon, another Oklahoma Christian center put together a perfect shooting game on Thursday night.
Senior Will Lienhard went 8 of 8 from the field, scoring a career-high 20 points to go with 14 rebounds, leading the Eagles to a much-needed 89-64 romp over Texas A&M International at the Kinesiology and Convocation Building. OC shot a season-best 62.5 percent (35 of 56) from the field.
The win moved OC (9-13, 4-7 Heartland Conference) into sixth place in the Heartland men's basketball standings, giving the Eagles a two-game lead over Texas A&M International (5-17, 2-9) and St. Mary's (Texas), who are tied for eighth. The top eight teams in the regular season advance to the league's postseason tournament.
"Road wins have eluded us this season," OC coach Cory Cole said. "We challenged the guys this week in practice and they responded tonight. We had a solid preparation and the team was dialed in. I thought we really guarded hard and smart tonight.
"Defense is the fuel that makes us go and we had energy and toughness on the defensive end. That was huge for us. We controlled the boards, which is a must and led to our early runs. I loved the way we shared the ball. It's fun to watch us when we play the way we need to continue to play."
Cole has challenged the 6-foot-8 Lienhard – who leads NCAA Division II in rebounding – to be more assertive offensively. While Lienhard (who, like Moon, wears uniform No. 25) didn't come close to matching Moon's famous 20-of-20 shooting outing against Oklahoma Panhandle State on Feb. 6, 2016, he did make all eight shots he attempted against TAMIU, including his first career 3-pointer.
Lienhard also played a huge role in helping the Eagles outrebound TAMIU 41-18. He and Roderick Smith (20 points, eight rebounds) combined to outrebound the Dustdevils by themselves. Lienhard also had three blocked shots, extending his Heartland-leading total and increasing his career total to 115, moving past Brad Wedel (112 from 1993-97) into sole possession of fifth place on OC's all-time list.
OC never trailed against the Dustdevils, starting the game on an 11-2 run. The Eagles led 31-11 midway through the first half, although TAMIU rallied to cut that margin to 42-36 by halftime.
A 3-pointer by Damon Leach in the opening seconds of the second half pulled the Dustdevils within 42-39, but the Eagles scored the next eight points – six on three baskets by Smith, who went 9 of 11 from the field – to rebuild their lead to double digits.
TAMIU still was within 54-45 with 13:31 left, but the Eagles sealed the win with an 18-2 run and led 72-47 with 7:44 left. OC's lead rose as high as 28 points in the final minutes.
Jordan Box scored 18 points for OC, going 4 of 9 from 3-point range, while Aubrey Johnson hit 4 of 5 3-point attempts and scored 16 points. Danny Spinuzza (24 points) and Xabier Gomez (20 points) provided the bulk of the Dustdevils' offense. TAMIU has lost seven straight games.
OC will visit St. Mary's in San Antonio on Saturday afternoon, looking to complete a regular-season sweep of the Rattlers.
"St. Mary's will be a challenge and will be ready for us," Cole said. "They are well-coached and tough at home."
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