OKWU EAGLE BASKETBALL GRINDS OUT IMPRESSIVE NON-CONFERENCE WINS
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s Yashi McKenzie (0) goes to the basket during an earlier season game. The Eagles won their last two games.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
Nov. 11, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Just like “The Little Engine That Could,” the Oklahoma Wesleyan University men’s basketball team is back on track.
The cardiac Eagles provided another thrill attack for their fans by winning two single-margin struggles.
Meanwhile, OKWU head coach Donnie Bostwick closed to within two wins of his 500th career victory.
The schedule is set for back-to-back road games, with the first on November 15 at Tabor College and the second on November 19 at Friends University.
OKWU’s next slated home game is November 22, when Kansas Wesleyan invades the Mueller Sports Center.
Following are summaries of last week’s wins.
OKWU 76, MIDAMERICA NAZARENE 69 — The Eagles poured in 44 points in the first half, but MidAmerica Nazarene cut into their lead in the second half but couldn’t overtake OKWU.
Four Eagles poured in double figures, led by Humberto Kentish Jr. with 17 points. Tamaje Izuagbe poured in 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Yashi McKenzie and Malachi Okunbor added 10 points apiece, the latter in only seven minutes of action.
Ethan Williams added nine points and six assists.
OKWU dominated on the boards, 37-23,
The other stat of focus was at the free throw line — 6-of-13 for MidAmerican Nazarene and 15-of-25 for the Eagles.
OKWU recorded a stellar shooting performance on two-pointers, 23-of-36, but nailed only five-of-19 three-pointers. However, in this game, every bucket and free throw was big.
MidAmerica Nazarene cut the margin to five points, 64-59, with less than five minutes left.
The teams basically traded points the rest of the way.
Izuabge’s dunk with 1:05 left put OKWU ahead, 72-63, and basically sealed the win.
OKWU 73, TEXAS WESLEYAN 67 — TWU clung to a 41-40 lead going into halftime, but the Eagles finished strong to finish 2-0 for the week.
Izuagbe canned 19 points to spearhead OKWU’s offensive attack.
Kentish and Williams both buried nine points. Williams added six assists.
Nick Bene cleaned the glass with eight rebounds.
OKWU scrapped throughout the first several minutes to overtake TWU.
After they tied it up three times they finally edged into the lead, 53-52, thanks to two free throws by Isaac Stanek with about 10 minutes left.
TWU then briefly retook the lead, but OKWU never trailed after Jaden Wilson’s buried a trey to put the Eagles ahead, 56-54. TWU came back to tie the score again a couple of times but OKWU answered every time.
Two free throws by Williams with 37 seconds left stretched OKWU’s lead to five, 70-65.
For the second-straight game, an Izuagbe dunk sealed the win. He made his power move with 15 seconds left to push OKWU to a two-possession lead, 72-67. TWU then ran out of time.