BETHANY, Okla. – Oklahoma City University dropped a 70-61 decision to sixth-ranked Southern Nazarene on Monday at the Sawyer Center in a battle of top-20 teams.

OCU, ranked 20th in NAIA Division I men's basketball, dropped to 11-7, 9-6 in the Sooner Athletic Conference, while Southern Nazarene improved to 20-4, 15-1 in the SAC.

Chris Brown, a senior from Spencer, Okla., led the way for OCU with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Kavon Lytch, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jerome Phillips, a senior from Chickasha, Okla., each had 10 points. Lytch also had 10 rebounds for a double-double.

Southern Nazarene finished the game on a 10-2 spurt, fueled by a flagrant foul on Phillips. Phillips fouled Deonta Black hard on a breakaway with SNU leading 64-59 with 45 seconds left. Black hit 1 of 2 from the line, then A.J. Thomas buried two free throws to give Southern Nazarene a 67-59 lead.

“Jerome made a hard foul, but I don't think he tried to hurt their player,” OCU coach Kevin Morrissey said. “With all that transpired in that game, to still have a chance to win was a positive. I told the guys in the locker room that there is a reason they [Southern Nazarene] are ranked No. 6.”

OCU trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half. Xavier Alexander hit a free throw with 5:13 remaining to give SNU a 60-50 lead. Alexander finished with a game-high 28 points for Southern Nazarene.

The Stars answered with a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to cut the deficit to one at 60-59 on a layup from Phillips with 1:28 left.

OCU closed a 13-point gap late in the first half with a 12-0 run over the last 5:36 of play. Bryant Williams hit a pair of jumpers for OCU to cut the score to 29-21 with 3:35 left. Al Graham hit a jumper, followed by a basket from Brown to make the score 29-25 with 1:46 remaining. Lytch scored in the paint, and Brown added a free throw to make the score 29-28 at halftime.

The Stars will face Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday at 8 p.m. inside Abe Lemons Arena.
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