Alva Review-Courier -

FORT SMITH, Ark. (Jan. 12, 2017) – Defense wasn't a problem for Oklahoma Christian on Thursday night at Arkansas-Fort Smith, but offense was.

The Eagles struggled to generate points the entire basketball game and, despite a strong defensive outing, fell 62-56 to UAFS at the Stubblefield Center.

OC (6-8, 1-5 Heartland Conference) limited UAFS – the preseason favorite to win the league title – to 29.6-percent field-goal shooting (16 of 54) and outrebounded the Lions 41-38, led by 11 boards each by John Moon and Dorian Lopez.

But the Eagles connected on just 32.7 percent (18 of 55) from the field and had a significant disadvantage from the free-throw line. OC was called for 28 fouls, leading to 32 free throws for UAFS, and the Lions made 27 of those. The 17 fouls called against UAFS (10-8, 4-3) resulted in 19 free throws for the Eagles, of which they made 15.

"They have length and they did a good job getting in the passing lanes," OC coach Cory Cole said of the Lions. "They dug in on John. It was just two good teams playing good defense and shots weren't falling for either one of us, but we rebounded well today."

Only two players reached double digits in scoring for OC – Moon and Marcus Mathieu, who each scored 14 points. Moon posted his fourth double-double of the season, while Mathieu matched his OC career scoring high while adding four assists.

"I loved our looks," Cole said. "We had a lot of guys who hit those shots in practice. We'll live with those shots all season long."

OC led in the early stages and took its last lead at 11-10 on a dunk by Moon with 11:39 left in the first half. UAFS regained the lead for good about a minute later on two free throws by DaVaunta Thomas, but the Lions never really pulled away from OC.

UAFS led 26-23 at halftime and twice pushed its lead to 12 points in the second half, including 58-46 with 1:41 left on a free throw by Ladarius Coleman. Three-pointers by Jordan Box and Lopez made it interesting late and OC pulled within 61-56 after a Mathieu bucket with 22 seconds left.

But the rally stalled there, as the Eagles didn't record another basket.

Moon increased his career scoring total to 1,646 points and moved up both the Heartland and OC all-time lists. He passed Matt Miller of Drury (Mo.) (1,639 points from 1999-2002) on the league list and now is fifth, 11 points behind current UAFS standout Seth Youngblood, who scored a team-high 12 points Thursday. On the OC list, Moon passed Brady Page (1,641 points from 2002-06) and is 14th.

Moon also had two blocked shots, giving him 201 for his career. He's the third OC player to record at least 200 career blocks, joining Micah Miles (229 from 2003-07) and Will Reinke (220 from 2009-12). Moon already holds the Heartland career blocks record and has had at least one block in 66 straight games.

Marcus Wallace added 11 points for UAFS while Coleman had 10.

OC will return to action on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Rogers State.