By Jim Jarrett
Staff writer
After Northern Okla-homa College Enid’s 87-57 win over the Oklahoma Baptist University junior varsity Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center, coach Greg Shamburg said his team still has plenty of work ahead if the Jets are going to reach their potential.
“I don’t think we were mentally ready to play,” Shamburg said. “I thought we played in spurts but we got a little bored sometimes.”
The ninth-year head coach watched his Jets force 26 OBU turnovers but also commit 14 mental errors.
NOC also hit just 5-of-16 (27.8 percent) from the free throw line while OBU connected on 21-of-34 (61.8 percent).
Shamburg said he has basically one player, 6-foot-4 sophomore Ben Smith, back with a great deal of starting experience off of last year’s 25-8 squad that won the Region II title.
“We have a lot of new players. It’s just going to take a while to get all the kinks out,” he said.
At times, NOC Enid looked explosive. The Jets never trailed in their third game of the season and opened a 23-11 lead during the opening 10 minutes.
Spencer Smith’s dunk with 9:36 left in the first half helped the Jets open a 15-point advantage.
Smith led NOC Enid with a game-high 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting and finished with six rebounds.
“He was one of the few guys who was aggressive and he played pretty well,” said Shamburg.
Matt Guillory’s 15-footer gave the Jets a 21-point lead with about 4:30 left, which was the largest bulge of the first half.
Chance Cravens’ hook inside the lane in the game’s final minutes gave NOC Enid its largest lead of the game, 87-52.
Two other Jets finished in double figures. Earl Ruffin netted 14 points and Mychael Hearn added 11 points.
Tanner Streater led the OBU junior varsity with 15 points and teammate Drew Wright added 10.
Shamburg said his club is capable of playing at a higher level but he also knew it’s just the first week of November.
“We’ve got to play better if we want to be as good as we want to be,” he said.
The Jets (2-1) meet Southwest Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Mabee Center to conclude a two-game home stand.
