Oklahoma City – The top four seeds survived tests by the lower seeds to advance to the semifinals of the 2026 Sooner Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament presented by Athletic Solutions on Wednesday at the Abe Lemons Arena in Oklahoma City.
No.1 Nelson 88, No. 8 Science & Arts 87
JJ Boling split a pair of free throws with .3 second left on the clock to give the top-seeded Lions a thrilling 88-87 victory over Science & Arts in the opening game of the first round.
The contest went back and forth throughout the afternoon until the Drovers grabbed a 72-67 advantage with 7:44 remaining in the second half on a Jamouri McCalister lay-in. Jesse Iweze hit four consecutive free throws over the following 60 seconds to cut the Science & Arts advantage to 72-71. The Lions grabbed their first lead in the second half since the 13:45 mark Iweze scored in the paint to give Nelson an 84-83 lead. After Nelson took an 87-85 lead following two more Iweze free throws with 31 seconds remaining, Landy Holmes drained a pair of free throws to tie the game at 87 before Boling split a pair of free throws to give Nelson an 88-87 advantage. The Drovers had one last gasp as a shot from 75 feet was ruled no good at the buzzer to give the Lions the victory.
Trelin Grenn paced the Lions with 22 points and five assists in the win, while Iweze added 19 markers with nine boards, and Micah Clark chipped in with 13 points and 13 boards as the Lions advanced to the semifinals on Friday with a 25-4 record.
McCallister led the way for the Drovers with a double-double as he scored 28 points and grabbed 13 caroms, while Mohand Ammad added 15 points and six rebounds as Science & Arts ended the season with a record of 11-18.
No. 4 Oklahoma City 82, No. 5 Texas Wesleyan 51
The Stars used a 15-2 run in the mid-way point of the first half to take a 17-point advantage
en route to an 82-51 win over Texas Wesleyan in the second first-round game of the day. Oklahoma City continued to pull away from the Rams in the second half as they put together another pair of scoring runs to push the advantage out to 82-44.
The Stars were outstanding from the field as they were 47.5 percent from the floor while out-rebounding Texas Wesleyan 47-33.
Brian Alexander led the Oklahoma City offense with 18 points, while Jonas Carlisle added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Stars improved to 19-10 on the season. DaeVeon Scott paced the Rams with 16 points and three steals with Montez Young, Jr., chipping in with eight points and eight boards as the Rams fell to 19-9 on the year.
No. 2 Langston 66, No. 7 John Brown 49
After taking a two-point lead into the halftime locker room, Langston outscored John Brown 39-24 in the second half to advance to the semifinals with a 66-49 victory over the Golden Eagles in the opening game of the evening session.
The Lions open the second half on a 15-7 run to extend their 27-25 halftime lead to a 10-point advantage at 42-32 that they were able maintain to advance to the Friday semifinals. Langston shot 34.6 percent from the field in the second half and was 17-of-19 from the charity stripe while limiting the Golden Eagles to 29 percent shooting during the final frame.
Omar Henry paced the Lions with 19 points and seven rebounds, while Antonio Lewis tossed in 16 points as Langston improved to 23-6 on the year. Trae Oetting led the way for John Brown with 16 points, with Marko Malekinusic chipping in with eight points and five rebounds, and a pair of blocks as the Golden Eagles finished the season with an overall record of 12-17.
No. 3 Wayland Baptist 89, No. 6 Mid-America Christian 46
The Pioneers relied on the long-range jumper as Wayland Baptist hit six triples in the first half to take a 47-18 lead at the break and then drained six more in the final 20 minutes to come away with a 89-46 win over Mid-America Christian to secure the final semifinal spot in the tournament.
Wayland Baptist raced out to a 19-4 lead over the first five and a half minutes of the first half as they hit five three-point shots over the span while their defense limited the Evangels to only six shot attempts during that time period.
The Pioneers continued to shoot the three-point shot well in the second half as they hit six triples to finish the game shooting 13-33 from beyond the arc for a 39.4 percent mark while outrebounding the Evangels 50-32 in the contest. Jamari Lawrence paced the Pioneers’ attack with 30 points while collecting seven rebounds, with Marcus Green pouring in 21 points and three steals as Wayland Baptist improved to 23-6 on the year. James Locke led the Evangels’ attack with 11 points while Clance Crosby added 10 markers and four rebounds as Mid-America Christian dropped to 19-10 on the year.
The semifinals will take place on Friday as No. 1 Nelson will open the day, taking on No. 4 seed Oklahoma City starting at noon. The Lions won both regular-season meetings between the schools this past season. In the second semifinal beginning at 2 p.m., No. 2 Langston will face No. 3 seed Wayland Baptist. The two teams split their regular-season meetings this past season.