John Brown's Coleson Rakestraw was driving into the lane trying to tie the game when Nate Brumfield stripped him of the ball and headed off the upset bid for Oklahoma Baptist.


Brumfield was fouled on his way to the basket, hit two free throws with seven seconds left to give No. 2 Oklahoma Baptist a 69-65 win.

"He just stepped in and took it away," said OBU coach Doug Tolin. "I thought he lost it about three times, but Nate thought he had it under control. It was quite a night for our guys."

Brumfield had 28 points to go with eight rebounds in a game in which the biggest lead by either team was six points. That six-point OBU lead came with 16:40 left in the first half and was never matched again.

"Man, that was just a good game tonight," Tolin said. "I thought they played a great game and our guys played just as well to win it on the road. This was just great small college basketball here tonight. It was quite a night for our guys."

The Bison had a 38-36 lead at the half after finishing it with a 5-1 run on a three-pointe rby Tim Bowman and a lay-up by Brumfield.

Down three with 12:06 left in the game, Garrett Steinmetz scored, Brumfield added a free throw and Heath McKay hit a three-pointer for a 6-0 run and a 55-52 edge. Abel Galliguez hit a three to tie the game for JBU, but McKay buzzed in with another three-pointer at the 9:18 mark for a 58-55 Bison edge.

Steinmetz hit a three-pointer with 8:11 left for a 61-57 lead, but Galliguez hit two more three-pointers to sandwich a basket by Brumfield to tie the game at 63-63 with 4:12 to play.

Still tied at 65-65, OBU stiffened on defense and shut the Golden Eagles out over the last three minutes. JBU missed four times and got no offensive rebounds in that span and Brumfield put the game away with the steal on the Golden Eagles' penultimate possession.

Steinmetz was OBU's only other double-digit scorer with 10 points. Galliguez led JBU with 18 points.

Now 24-1 overall and 16-1 in the SAC, the Bison host Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday at 8 p.m.