Men's Basketball 12/17/2013 11:10:00 PM

Southwestern Christian staves off OCU rally in 82-79 verdict

Stars claw back into contest after trailing by 19 points

Kaleb Smith produced his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds Tuesday.

Box Score
BETHANY, Okla. – Terry Johnson's 3-point attempt from the corner missed as Southwestern Christian edged Oklahoma City University 82-79 on Tuesday at Pickens-Springer Gymnasium.
The Stars' Jamaal Crayton drove for a layup with nine seconds left, then Kaleb Smith stuck a putback at eight seconds remaining. OCU moved to 4-4, 0-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference men's basketball play.
Johnson's 3-point try bounded off the rim as Tyler Turner secured the rebound for Southwestern Christian.
"We ran a play to give him the best opportunity," OCU coach Dionne Phelps said of Johnson's shot. "Our best player on the floor, for us, we wanted to make sure that he had an opportunity to get the best look. I couldn't get him a better look. That's the shot he can hit. He hits it often. It goes in and out. If it goes in, we're in overtime, and we get the chance to play a little bit longer. We got the guy the shot we wanted to get the shot. It didn't go in, it wasn't our night. Hats off to them."
Crayton missed a free throw which Smith rebounded and scored with to cut OCU's deficit to 81-79. Adam Dirlbeck missed a free throw, then hit the second free throw to put Southwestern Christian ahead 82-79. OCU called timeout and had an inbound attempt with 3.4 seconds left.
The Stars had sliced Southwestern Christian's lead to 78-75 with 39 seconds to go on Crayton's trey from the wing. Turner and Dirlbeck had free throws to push Southwestern Christian's edge back to 81-75 with 14 seconds showing.
"Our guys continued to fight," Phelps said. "That's the only way you could ever have a chance to be in this kind of game. We did everything we could down the stretch to overcome the 3-point shooting they did. We'll be back, I'll guarantee that."
Smith canned two 3s and a 3-point play to cut OCU's deficit to 49-48 at the 14:44 mark of the second half. Crayton dropped in a jump shot that brought OCU to within one point at 51-50 with 13:01 remaining.
Southwestern Christian sank 13 3-pointers in the game. The Eagles had nine treys in the first half, aiding them in creating a 37-18 advantage with 7:03 to go in the first period.
OCU kept Southwestern Christian scoreless for the next 6:40 to climb back into the game. Ivan Matip connected on a free throw with 37 seconds left in the first to cut Southwestern Christian's lead to 37-29.
"We got back into the game, but there were a couple of times we had layups at the basket, and we missed them," Phelps said. "There were a couples of times we were at the free-throw line, and we missed free throws. We got to do a little better job than that. If you plan to be successful, we have to make those shots down the stretch, and we have to be more consistent."
Johnson, a senior from Chicago, scored a game-high 20 points for OCU. Crayton, a senior from Augusta, Ga., supplied the Stars with 18 points and five rebounds, and Smith, a senior from Choctaw, Okla., contributed 17 points, 12 rebounds and two steals.
OCU resumes action against Wayland Baptist at 8 p.m. Jan. 2 at Abe Lemons Arena.

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