BALDWIN CITY, Kan. – The Oklahoma City University men's basketball team dropped an 85-70 decision to Baker (Kan.) on Tuesday at the Collins Center.
Chris Williams, a senior from Denver, led OCU with 29 points to go along with six rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. The Stars, ranked fifth in NAIA Division I men's basketball, fell to 1-1.
"I'm proud of our guys' fight tonight after seeing adversity for the first time this season," OCU coach Vinay Patel said. "We lost Joe Clarke to injury in the first five minutes of the game, and that really hurt us because of what he's meant to us in these early stages of the season. It was 73-70 with 1:27 to go and our defense could not come up with the stop we needed to win the game. Give Coach Dooley a lot of credit for having his guys ready to go tonight. We will immediately get back to work and see what improvements we can make to help us be better prepared the next time we take the floor."
Baker used a 12-0 run to end the game after the Stars cut the lead to three with 1:28 remaining. BU made 10 straight free throws in the final 46 seconds.
Elijah Christman, a senior from Justin, Texas, and Anthony Davis, a junior from Lewisville, Texas, each joined Williams with double-figure points for OCU with 10. Christman had 10 points and five rebounds, while Davis had 10 points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal. Eric McCollum, a senior from Newburgh, N.Y., pulled down 12 rebounds for the Stars.
OCU outrebounded the Wildcats 41-38 in the game, but Baker held a 12-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Stars will play their next game 7 p.m. Wednesday at Abe Lemons Arena against Ecclesia (Ark.).