On January 29th, our basketball teams played against the teams from Oklahoma City University Stars. Both of their teams posed a serious challenge to our Lions.
The first game started off very well for the Lady Lions. They had a great first quarter which ended with a score of 26 to 11. There were a lot of moments when the Lions had to make a dive for the ball.
The second quarter saw both teams slow down a bit with a score of 39 to 18. The crowd was electric during this game and went crazy for Janiyah Tucker’s three pointers. Eventually, the band packed themselves in the stands but didn’t play until the next game.
The game ended with a string of steals with the Lions getting a rebound from their own free throw, having it stolen, and then stealing it back to make a shot which made the crowd go crazy. The ending score was 82 to 43.
Coach Vincent said that he was proud of how quickly the girls have been learning throughout the game and of how much effort they put in, especially in plays where they had to dive for the ball or gain extra possessions.
Whether the men would win this game or not was up in the air after having lost to OCU last year.
The crowd was immediately invested into this game, their energy had carried over between the games. Unfortunately this game was to a rough start, OCU was already ahead.
As the game went on, the Lions slowly fought their way back to even footing. The halftime score was 31 to 30. Orlando Thomas and Trey Clarke said that the energy of the crowd helped them during this uncertainty. Orlando Thomas said it’s “something you dream of”.
The next half was full of anxiety. Each time a team would score, the other team would rebound and score right back. It was back and forth up until Langston started building a lead which lasted until the end of the game. The ending score was 65 to 73.
This was also the Thunder’s HBCU Night. They handed out t-shirts designed by Langston student, Esubiyi Higgins. The Thunder brought the Thunder Drummers to play at halftime.
