FORT SMITH - UAFS was in full control of its own destiny when it came to its quest for a fourth Heartland Conference regular-season championship on Thursday night, and the nationally-ranked Lions didn’t let the opportunity slip away.
Four players scored in double-figures as the Lions used a strong second-half scoring surge to break open what was a tie game at halftime and beat the Oklahoma Christian Eagles 86-73 in the regular-season finale at the Stubblefield Center.
UAFS (24-4, 12-4), which is ranked No. 18 in the NABC Division II Top 25 and the D2SIDA Top 25, won no less than a share of its second-consecutive and fourth overall regular-season title. The Lions are still in the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament, too, but remain tied with the No. 24 Dallas Baptist Patriots (22-5, 11-4) for first place. Dallas Baptist plays Newman in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
The Lions are the defending champions of the conference tournament, which begins on Friday at the UMAC in Tulsa, Okla.
With the win, the Lions also set the school record for single-season wins during the NCAA Division II era (24). The previous record was 23 wins, which the Lions posted the past two seasons.
The Lions shot 47 percent from the field (28 of 60) – they were only 4-of-14 shooting from 3-point range – and shot 77 percent from the free-throw line (26 of 34). Senior guard Marcus Wallace had a team-high 20 points, while senior guard Ladarius Coleman had 19, senior guard DaVaunta Thomas 16 and sophomore guard Kyree Elder 10.
Coleman, who was one of seven seniors honored during a pregame ceremony, topped off his sixth double-double with 15 rebounds, helping the Lions out-rebound the Eagles by 13 rebounds (45-32).
Oklahoma Christian, which beat UAFS 62-58 on Jan. 4 at the Eagles Nest in Oklahoma City, shot only 41 percent from the field (25 of 61) – it was 9-of-22 shooting from 3-point range – and shot just 58 percent from the free-throw line (14 of 24).
Guards Elijah Strickland and Jordan Box each had 16 points for the Eagles, who were tied 39-39 with the Lions at halftime. Forward Roderick Smith had 11 points to round out the Eagles’ double-figure scoring.
Smith topped off his double-double with 12 rebounds.
MEN
NO. 18 UAFS 86, OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN 73
Oklahoma Christian 39 34 — 73
UAFS 39 47 — 86
Oklahoma Christian (10-16, 6-9): Strickland 16, Box 16, Smith 11, Shaw 6, Bagwell 5, Rodriguez 5, Jaksic 5, Kuimi 4, Johnson 3, Davet 2
UAFS (24-4, 12-4): Wallace 20, Coleman 19, Thomas 16, Elder 10, Strong-Moore 9, Crawford 8, Glapion 4
