March 18, 2006

Kansas City, Mo. - Oklahoma Baptist University earned its eighth trip to the NAIA Fab Four with a 91-75 victory against Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) Saturday in the 2006 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship Saturday at Municipal Auditorium.

The Bison won for the sixth time in the last seven games to improve to 30-6 overall. Oklahoma Baptist, the No. 8 seed in the tournament, will meet unseeded Texas Wesleyan University Monday at 8 p.m. CST. This marks the eighth time that the Bison have hit the 30-win mark, including four times in the last five years.

Senior forward Frank Benson poured in a game-high 30 points to lead the Bison to their first semifinal appearance since 2002, when they were defeated in the title game the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. In addition, Oklahoma Baptist picked up their 44th NAIA Tournament victory, which is just two away from the all-time record. Georgetown College (Ky.) and Central Washington University share the record with 46 tournament wins.

Midway through the first half, Oklahoma Baptist scored 10 consecutive points to build a 40-20 lead. The Bison extended the margin to 21 points before Olivet Nazarene stormed back. The Tigers closed the half on a 17-3 run to pull within 48-41 at the intermission.

Olivet Nazarene sliced the deficit to 48-45 on a basket by junior center Travis Meeks early in the second half. Oklahoma Baptist quickly pushed its lead back to double digits and slowly pulled away for the win.

Junior forward Julius Hird added 21 points and a team-high eight rebounds for Oklahoma Baptist, while senior guard Jason Bray posted 15 points and six assists. Junior guard Trey Griffin chipped in with 14 points for the Bison.

Sophomore Phil French came off the bench to lead Olivet Nazarene with 16 points and six rebounds. Junior forward Stan Chismark connected for 14 points, while senior guard Zach Birkey dished out a game-high seven assists for the Tigers. Olivet Nazarene, which was looking for its first Fab Four berth since 2000, closed its season with an overall record of 23-11.