OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma City University men's basketball team dropped a 94-79 contest to Northwestern on Monday at Abe Lemons Arena.
The Stars couldn't overcome the solid show of long-range shooting from the Rangers. Northwestern was 11-of-26 from behind the 3-point line, with Brandon Harris hitting 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
OCU dropped to 16-12, 9-11 in the Sooner Athletic Conference while Northwestern improved to 19-9, 13-7. OCU is clinging precariously to the eighth spot in the conference and vying to remain in that position to qualify for postseason play.
The leading scorer for the game was OCU's Brandon Moton, a junior from Beaumont, Texas. Moton poured in 24 points including four 3-point baskets, and added four steals and three rebounds.
“I felt like we needed to have a little bit more guard play tonight and Brandon had a good game,” OCU coach Kevin Morrissey said. “We had a lot of juniors out there tonight that tried hard and unfortunately we just didn't do what we needed to do.”
Nate Flowers, a senior from Waldorf, Md., was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Flowers added 14 points, three rebounds and three assists for the Stars. Orlan Jackman, a junior from London, put in 12 points and five rebounds. Shane Rogers, a junior from Flower Mound, Texas, had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds in the loss.
The halftime score was 47-40 in favor of Northwestern. The Rangers extended their lead to 77-61 with 6:41 to play in the game. The Stars were still ready to fight, however, and went on a 9-0 run to cut the Northwestern lead to 77-70 with 4:32 to play. The capper of the run was a defensive rebound by Rogers with a hard pass to a sky-high Jackman who went in for the dunk.
“I feel like that was an aggressive move to the rim, a finish with a hard dunk with contact,” Morrissey said. “There's four minutes in the game when we're down seven. Anything can happen right there especially when we come out and then we get that steal by Bryant Williams. Then we had a turnover by Shane, who really played a good game up to that point. At that point I thought it was over with and guys pretty much stopped defending after that, unfortunately.”
OCU couldn't overcome the seven-point deficit as Northwestern finished the game on a 17-7 run.
OCU held the lead for the first eight minutes of game action. A Moton jumper at the 11:36 mark had the Stars up 17-14. Northwestern's Johnie Sanders put in a 3-pointer on the Rangers' next possession to tie the game. From that point forward, the Stars could never regain the lead.
OCU committed 19 turnovers that led to 28 Northwestern points in the game. While the Stars shot 52 percent from the field, the turnovers coupled with losing the battle of the boards 32-27 proved to be deciding factors in the game. Northwestern posted five double-digit scorers on the night.
“I didn't feel like we played with a lot of energy or a lot of desire,” Morrissey said. “Some guys did, but I just couldn't find the right formula. Unfortunately, we've got some mentalities of just checking it in, and I've got to identify those guys that haven't done that yet and I think I know who they are. We've just got to move forward and give our best against USAO.”
The Stars will honor the seniors in the season's last home matchup against USAO on Thursday at 8 p.m.
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