Men's Basketball 11/8/2012 11:20:00 PM

Central Oklahoma hangs on for 81-77 win over OCU

Johnson leads Stars with 18 points

Charlton Jones compiled 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists Thursday.

Box Score
OKLAHOMA CITY – Central Oklahoma prevailed 81-77 over Oklahoma City University in a matchup of cross-town rival men's basketball teams Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena.
Shawn Grant buried a 3-pointer that tied the game 67-67 with 5:58 remaining in the contest, but OCU did not take away the lead. The Stars went to 1-1 on the season.
Grant also knotted the game 64-64 with another trey at 6:39 left in the tilt. Central Oklahoma answered Grant's second 3 with a 7-0 run. Josh Gibbs' free throws with 5:28 started the run, and Spencer Smith's putback capped the surge at the 3:08 mark.
Charlton Jones cut the Stars' deficit to 79-77 by sinking a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left. Josh Davis' free throws with seven seconds remaining clinched the victory for Central Oklahoma.
Terry Johnson, a junior from Chicago, topped four Stars in double-figure scoring with 18 points while posting five assists and four steals. Grant, a senior from Jonesboro, Ark., produced 15 points on five-pointers while snagging two steals.
Jones, a senior from Katy, Texas, totaled 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Troynell Adams, a senior from Chicago, contributed 11 points. Tim Morton, a senior from Capital Heights, Md., grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Central Oklahoma had fallen 94-66 to Oklahoma in an exhibition Wednesday.
“I'm proud of our kids,” OCU coach Dionne Phelps said. “We put ourselves in a position to win the game. Give credit to Terry Evans on getting his team back from what was an emotional game Wednesday.”
OCU owned edges in rebounding (36-33), points in the paint (26-24), points off turnovers (26-9), second-chance points (24-14), fast-break points (6-2) and bench points (25-20). Central Oklahoma committed 21 turnovers, but shot 51.1 percent (24-of-47) to OCU's 35.8 percent (24-of-67).
“When you get a team turning the ball over like that, we have to capitalize,” Phelps said. “The thing that knocked us off our rhythm was foul trouble with our bigs. We had to climb a hill and couldn't catch a rhythm after that. We had point-blank opportunities we didn't take advantage of.”
Smith provided Central Oklahoma what would be its largest lead at 16-5 on a free throw with 15:18 to go in the first half.
The Stars sliced Central Oklahoma's lead as Johnson's lay-in cut OCU's deficit to 22-20 with 6:22 left in the first. Jones canned a 3 that reduced Central Oklahoma's edge to 24-23 at the 5:02 mark.
OCU meets Southwestern Adventist (Texas) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Keene, Texas.

Print Friendly Version