Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Sooner Athletic Conference men's basketball coaches apparently know their stuff.

    In pre-season voting, they tabbed Southwest Assemblies of God University as the likely champion of the 2021-22 season. Tuesday night (Nov. 23) at the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship gym, they looked the part as they defeated the University of North Texas at Dallas, 89-75.

     The victory, fueled by a high-speed offense, upped the Waxahachie-based Lions' conference record to 3-0 ( 6-1 for the season) while the host Trailblazers suffered their third straight league defeat and fell to 2-5 for the season.

     In the early going, the two teams exchanged baskets regularly with the score knotted at 18-all midway through the first half. UNTD even led, 21-20, with 10:40 remaining before intermission. Then, however, the visitors turned up the heat and rested with a 51-44 lead.

     Thereafter, they were in command,  building a double-digit advantage down the stretch.

     Earlier, the Trailblazers women, struggling after a 6-0 season start, lost to the Lions, 53-43, in a battle that saw the hosts' offense struggle from the opening buzzer.  Enroute to their second straight conference defeat (they are now 6-2, 1-2), the Trailblazers' backcourt was unable to penetrate the aggressive SAGU defense, forcing the reliance on an outside shooting game that was ineffective.  For the night, the host attempted 23 3-point shots, hitting on only three.  Overall, they connected on just 23 percent of their shots while the winners hit 43 percent for the evening.

     The Lady Lions are now 3-3 for the season and 1-2 in conference play.

     Both UNTD teams will take a brief and welcome Thanksgiving holiday break. The men return to action Tuesday (Nov. 30) when they host Bacone in a 7 p.m. non-conference affair. Next on tap for the women is a December 2 home date against SAC foe Oklahoma City University, part of a men's-women's doubleheader.