OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University 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 Round Rock, 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.”
OCU held Oklahoma Baptist to 37.7 percent shooting, but managed to shoot only 39.3 percent from the floor. The Stars committed 20 turnovers, while Oklahoma Baptist limited its turnovers to 13.
The Stars meet St. Gregory's at 5 p.m. Saturday in Shawnee, Okla.
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