SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. – Oklahoma City University was stopped short by John Brown (Ark.) 76-71 at Bill George Arena on Monday.
The Stars, ranked 21st in NAIA Division I men's basketball, dropped to 10-4, 3-3 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. OCU had five scorers in double digits and all eight players who entered the game for the Stars contributed at least one basket from the field.
Nate Flowers, a senior from Waldorf, Md., was Stars' leading scorer with 16 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Johnny Stephene, a junior from Boynton Beach, Fla., put in 12 points and was 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Dee Proby, a senior from Round Rock, Texas, put in 11 points and brought down six rebounds. Kaleb Smith and Shane Rogers both chipped in 10 points apiece on the night.
“We're still going through some personnel stuff and trying to figure out who we're going to use in certain situations,” OCU assistant coach Quinn Wooldridge said. “Tonight we changed the lineup up a little bit and had some good things going but in the end we kind of got scrambled a little bit.”
Cesar Cuevas, a senior from Albuquerque, N.M., was inserted into the starting lineup and contributed a team-high five assists and five points in his first start of the season.
OCU and John Brown played to a 33-32 gridlock after the first 20 minutes of play. OCU extended the one-point halftime lead to a 57-50 advantage with 9:58 to play. John Brown regained momentum and the lead with 6:09 remaining after some sharp-shooting from Sam Bartlett, who contributed all 17 of his points in the second half of action. The Golden Eagles took the 60-58 after Adrian Miller made a pair of free throws. John Brown's largest lead in the game came with 2:10 to play after another set of made free throws by Miller.
OCU was not without opportunities to overcome the deficit, however, as a 3-point basket by Stephene with 10 seconds to play cut the Golden Eagle lead to 74-71. A final pair of free throws by EJ McWoods ended the contest at 76-71 and handed OCU their second consecutive loss.
“We're headed in the right direction, trying to figure out who we are and what we need to be trying to do to get better," Wooldridge said.
OCU will next travel to Alva, Okla., to take on Northwestern on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Percefull Fieldhouse.
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