Oklahoma Baptist lost for the first time ever to Mid-America Christian in men's basketball Thursday, dropping an 82-76 decision to the Evangels in Shawnee.

It was the first win in the young eight-game rivalry for Mid-America Christian and it handed OBU its first back-to-back losses since the 2007-08 season.

The Bison trailed by 13 at halftime and by as many as 21 in the second half. OBU used a 20-6 run to cut the lead to 59-53 with 9:20 to play, but the Evangels got back up by 11.

The Bison got the lead back to four and missed a chance to cut it to one point when a three-point try by Allen Hester rimmed out. MACU was able to salt the game away at the free throw line.

"We didn't play like we needed to play and didn't respond how we needed to respond," said OBU Coach Doug Tolin. "We used a lot of energy to dig out of that hole. We didn't shoot the ball well, but that wasn't the main thing we did wrong. We gave up too many easy baskets and we didn't move the ball very well."

Kevin Swinton led the Bison with 28 points, while Tim Bowman added 16 and Maurice Foster 13. Foster hailed down 17 rebounds and five steals.

The Evangels were led by Nathan Pratt with 22 points.

The loss will hurt OBU in the NAIA rankings, but the Bison held their spot atop the Conference standings thanks to a Rogers State win in Claremore over Southern Nazarene.

Now 20-6 overall and 14-4 in the SAC, the Bison host Oklahoma City Saturday at 8 p.m.