MUSKOGEE, OK: Two days after clinching their second consecutive Sooner Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship, the 11th ranked Texas Wesleyan University men's basketball team (23-6, 13-5 SAC) put an exclamation point on their SAC campaign by closing out the regular season with a 114-95 win at Bacone College (7-21, 3-15).
The 114-point effort was Texas Wesleyan's second-highest scoring output of the season. The Rams have cracked the century mark six times including a season-high 115 points against Barclay on December 12.
As the SAC Regular Season Champion, the Rams will be the top seed in next week's conference tournament. They will host the 8th seed in a quarterfinal contest on Tuesday. In a testament to the strength and depth of the SAC, the 8th seed is Defending NAIA National Champion Mid-America Christian University. That contest is scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off in the Sid Richardson Center.
On Saturday, Texas Wesleyan shot 54% from the field and 52% (12-23) from long range in the contest while holding the Warriors to 41% overall and 42% (17-41) from long range. The Warriors held their only lead of the contest at 3-2, while the Rams led for 39:35.
Bacone hit 10-of-20 from long range in the first half, but the Rams put up 65 points in the period to lead 65-52 at the break.
Bacone made one push in the second half. A three from Brandon Chatman cut the margin to 6-points (81-75) with 12:33 to play, but a 4-point play from
Ryan Harris capped a quick string of six unanswered points that pushed the score to 87-75. The Rams never looked back, leading by as many as 22 points on their way to the 114-95 victory.
Four Rams combined for 99 points.
Dion Rogers went for a game-high 28 points, with
Ryan Harris right on his heels with 27.
Najeal Young posted 25 points and 9 rebounds, and
Trevon Jeffery posted his 9th double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 boards.
Bacone was led by Chatman's 17 points.
The Rams now turn their focus to the SAC Tournament which is a single elimination bracket featuring the league's top eight teams. Quarterfinal contests will be played at the higher seed on Tuesday. Oklahoma City University will host the semifinals and final on Friday and Saturday. The tournament champion will earn an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship in Kansas City, MO, March 15-21.
Ramblings
- Texas Wesleyan won the 2015-16 SAC Regular Season Championship with a league record of 14-4.
- The top 6 seeds in the SAC were separated by just three games in the conference standings. MACU and John Brown tied for 7th at 7-11.
- The Rams now lead the all-time series with Bacone 21-8. They are 39-35 all-time in SAC play and 27-9 in league play in the last two seasons.
- Mid-America Christian is the only team that swept the season series from the Rams this season. They lead the all-time series with the Rams 6-2.
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Dion Rogers closed the regular season averaging exactly 20 points per game with 560 points in 28 contests.
Trevon Jeffery is averaging just under a double-double with 11.6 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
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Naiel Smith leads the NAIA with 220 assists and 7.86 assists per game.
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Ryan Harris stayed hot with his second 20+ point game in three days. For the week, he averaged 25 points per game while shooting 53% (17-32) from the field, 44% (7-16) from three, and 75% (9-12) at the free throw line.
