Oklahoma Beats Dayton; Wins Third Place in the Battle for Atlantis Tournament

         After taking a 78-58 beating from Wisconsin, the Sooners bounced back to beat Dayton and captured third place in the Battle for Atlantis tournament. The Sooners improved to 5-1 on the season, while Dayton fell to 4-2.

          Oklahoma’s Christian James is quickly becoming a star, leading the Sooners in cumulative points with 104 points, and 20.4 PPG through just six games. Also, James is not placed any less than three in any major offensive stat category amongst fellow teammates. However, Christian, who had 21 points on the day, was not the only Sooner who significantly contributed to the victory. Jamuni McNeece had 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, and is cementing himself as the best player/leader on a respectable Sooner defense. 

          Dayton struggled shooting the ball as whole, shooting 32% overall, and 25% from three. The Flyers trailed by as much as 14 points in the first half, but cut the Sooner lead down to six, and took momentum into halftime. Things began to look positive for Dayton when they took advantage of a sloppy second half Sooners team and went on a 9-0 scoring run to start the second half. Just when it looked like Oklahoma would collapse once again in the last half of the game, the Sooners outscored Dayton 9-2 and tied the game at 43 a piece with 11:05 left in regulation.

          From 11:05 on, everything went downhill for the Flyers. After an Aaron Calixte layup gave Oklahoma the lead, the Sooners held Dayton to just one basket in 9 minutes of play to secure a 65-54 win. Following the win over Dayton, Oklahoma finished their play in the Battle for Atlantis tournament with a win, and third place. Oklahoma’s next game will be at home vs UNT on 11/27 at 7:00 PM CT.

PHOTO CREDITS- Springfield News-Sun 

David Jablonski – Staff Writer Dayton’s Trey Landers and Ryan Mikesell defend against Oklahoma …