Men's Basketball 1/6/2014 11:41:00 PM

OCU sinks Northwood 100-84

Stars amass 44 points in the paint

Terrence Walker produced his career high with 25 points Monday.

Box Score
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University held off Northwood (Texas) 100-84 on Monday at Abe Lemons Arena.
Terrence Walker, a senior from Jonesboro, Ark., piled up an OCU career-high 25 points to pace the Stars. OCU improved to 6-4, 2-1 in the Sooner Athletic Conference in men's basketball.
Walker dropped in 11 of his 15 shots from the field while grabbing six rebounds.
"As time went on, it ended up Terrence's night," OCU coach Dionne Phelps said. "That's the way he has to play. In order for us to be good, we have to have some type of inside presence. I'm proud that he had an opportunity like this to show us what he can really do, but we need that out of him every night. We're not going to be satisfied with just one game of him competing like that. We need him every night to play tough."
Terry Johnson, a senior from Chicago, totaled 23 points, four assists and two steals while going 10-for-10 from the free-throw line, and Kaleb Smith, a senior from Choctaw, Okla., contributed 16 points and five steals for the Stars.
OCU scored 100 points for the first time since a 103-63 win over Northwood on Dec. 3, 2012 at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars notched season highs in points, assists (22) and steals (21). OCU fired in 50 percent of its shots from the field, 55.6 percent of its second-period tries, and tied its season high with 10 3-pointers.
"Having this opportunity with the Christmas break, it gives them ample opportunity to get into the gym and get some extra shots up," Phelps said. "That's been able to help us. As much as our guys love playing basketball, they find an opportunity to get back in here and get shots up."
Northwood became the third OCU opponent to shoot 50 percent or better from the field. Northwood (2-6, 0-3 SAC) hit 52.7 percent from the field overall and 63.3 percent in the second half.
The rebounding battle went to Northwood 38-30. All six of Walker's rebounds came on the offensive end.
"I'm proud of our guys in one area that we I thought we really needed to emphasize, and that was on the glass," Phelps said. "We were going to try to compete with them. We competed, but at the end of the day, we gave up a couple second-shot opportunities. I'm excited that we're trying to compete in that area."
OCU's 10-3 run pushed its advantage to 22 points. Jamaal Crayton scored on back-to-back transition buckets, including a jam to create a 69-47 Stars lead with 15:37 remaining.
Eugene Gipson had free throws that cut the Stars' margin down to 10 points. OCU answered as Kaleb Smith had a lay-in, and Walker added a free throw and a putback. Walker's tip-in put the Stars in front 84-69 with 6:19 left.
The Stars square off with John Brown (Ark.), ranked seventh in NAIA Division I, at 8 p.m. Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena.

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