OKLAHOMA CITY – OCU fell short 73-64 to Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena.
Oklahoma Baptist, ranked 11th in NAIA Division I men’s basketball, improved to 14-4, 8-2 in the Sooner Athletic Conference, while the Stars dropped to 11-8, 4-7 in the SAC.
Nate Flowers, a senior from Waldorf, Md., topped the Stars with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Dee Proby, a senior from Beaumont, Texas, notched his first double-double for OCU with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Shane Rogers, a junior from Flower Mound, Texas, added 10 points.
OCU built a 25-12 advantage on Cesar Cuevas’ jumper with 10:25 left in the first half. Oklahoma Baptist turned the tables with a 14-0 run.
Emmanuel Wilson gave OBU a 26-25 lead on a layup with 6:25 remaining in the first. Allen Hester provided OBU with seven points during that run, knocking in a 3, then adding a putback and dunk. Tim Bowman followed Hester’s trey with a 3-pointer of his own.
Oklahoma Baptist put together its largest lead of the game at 64-49 on Kevin Swinton’s free throws at the 9:14 mark of the second half.
Flowers sank free throws to slice OCU’s deficit to 68-62 with 3:40 remaining in the game. Oklahoma Baptist responded by shooting 5-for-6 on free throws down the stretch.
“We didn’t get stops when we needed to,” OCU coach Kevin Morrissey said. “Giving up offensive rebounds can be deflating. I felt like were flat, but then we got a stop. We gave up three or four layups with the shot clock winding down.”
The Stars meet St. Gregory’s at 5 p.m. Saturday in Shawnee, Okla.
