OKLAHOMA CITY – Corey Bingham hit a pair of free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining to propel Oklahoma City University past No. 3 Oklahoma Baptist 69-67 on Saturday evening inside Abe Lemons Arena.
Bingham, a junior from Lynn, Mass., drew a foul at midcourt from OBU's Kevin Swinton to set up the winning points. OCU has now won four straight games to improve to 9-5, 7-4 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. Oklahoma Baptist suffered its first defeat of the season to drop to 18-1, 10-1 in the SAC in front of 2,000 fans.
“I have to thank my team,” Bingham said. “If it wasn't for them sticking together I wouldn't have been able to knock down those free throws. We work on our free throws every day in practice, and I just got up to the line and did what I do every day.”
Kavon Lytch, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., had 22 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two assists to lead the charge for OCU. Bingham finished with 19 points, including 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Chris Brown, a senior from Spencer, Okla., added 13 points.
“This is a great home victory for us,” OCU coach Kevin Morrissey said. “OBU came in undefeated, and what a great team they are. In the end, it was just a great team effort.
“The crowd was really helpful. We were glad that everyone was here to support us tonight. We couldn't have done it without them.”
Garrett Steinmetz of OBU knocked in a 3-pointer to cut OCU's lead to 66-65 with 1:23 to play. With 16.7 seconds left, Brown hit one of two free throws to give the Stars a 67-65 lead.
OBU knotted the score with a pair of free throws from Tim Bowman with six seconds remaining.
Bingham hit a 3-pointer midway through the second half to start a 9-1 run and give OCU a 59-49 advantage with 6:43 remaining. OBU answered with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to three points at 61-58 with 4:59 left to play.
Lytch knocked in two free throws and hit a layup with 3:04 left to extend OCU's lead to 65-60.
Nate Brumfield, the SAC's leading scorer, had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead OBU.
Oklahoma Baptist started the game shooting 2 of 12 from the field as OCU surged out to an 18-6 lead with 10:58 remaining in the first half. The Stars led 35-29 at halftime.
The Stars will travel to sixth-ranked Southern Nazarene at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
