MARSHALL, Texas – Jayden Williams hit two three-pointers to start the game as East Texas Baptist University led from the beginning in a 25-point victory over the University of the Ozarks, 87-62, in American Southwest Conference play. ETBU is now 13-3 overall and 7-2 in the ASC.
 
"Coming off a tough loss on Thursday this was a bounce back game for us and we talked about this yesterday in practice. We had to clean up our defensive effort and offensive mistakes," said head coach Chris Lovell. "I thought we came out extremely focused in the first half holding them to 21 points and had a 20-plus lead at halftime. I was really proud of our guy's focus. When are focused and communicate we are really good."
 
Four players came away scoring double figures for ETBU as Williams led the way with 23 points making seven three-pointers. Darry Moore had 20 points and five rebounds while Aaron Gregg finished with 16 points and seven assists. Kevin Charles added 12 points and five rebounds. Skyler Stutts led the team with six rebounds. Josh Ukpe led Ozarks with 15 points.
 
ETBU first half defense became the difference in the game holding Ozarks to just 30 percent shooting and 21 points. UO finished at 45 percent on the game and 29 percent from the arc while ETBU made 50 percent from the floor and 39 percent from three-point lead. They forced 19 turnovers and took the rebound battled, 38-31.
 
Williams started the game hitting three straight three-pointers for a 9-3 lead. His streak started at 19:15 for a 3-0 lead and then 45 seconds later made it 6-0 on his second of the game. After UO answered, Williams canned his third straight trey with 17:41 left in the half for the six-point lead. With 12:29 left, UO had the lead down to three, 15-12, but a 13-2 run over six minutes put ETBU up, 28-14, as Ryan Elzy gave ETBU their largest lead to that point. Moore had a fast break dunk on an assist from Gregg at 1:59 for a 23-point lead, 42-19, and then made it a 25-point lead at the half, 46-21, with a jumper at the 00:56 mark.
 
UO went on a 10-3 run to start the second half to come within 19 points, 50-31 (16:26), but that is as close as they would come the rest of the game. With 11:08 left in the game, Gregg converted a fast-break layup for a 28-point lead, 66-38, on a 16-7 run in five minutes. That was ETBU's largest lead of the game as the lead never dipped below 23 points the rest of the way. Michael Roberts had a layp with 2:28 left to make it 85-58, and then Stutts scored at 1:15 for the final ETBU basket of the game ending in the 87-62 victory.
 
ETBU will host Hardin-Simmons University on Thursday, January 19, at 7:30 p.m.