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Oklahoma City University Athletics

Oklahoma City University
Home Of Champions|73 National Championships
A.J. Cockrell
A.J. Cockrell led the Stars with 19 points at No. 20 Texas Wesleyan
69
Oklahoma City University OCU 12-11, 5-9
73
Winner Texas Wesleyan TXWES 17-6, 10-4
Oklahoma City University OCU
12-11, 5-9
69
Final
73
Texas Wesleyan TXWES
17-6, 10-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Oklahoma City University OCU 36 33 69
Texas Wesleyan TXWES 36 37 73

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men's Basketball's Upset Bid at No. 20 Texas Wesleyan Comes Up Just Short

Stars Again Force Ranked Foe to the Brink; Unable to Pull off Victory

FORT WORTH, Texas - The Oklahoma City University men's basketball team has faced a ranked Texas Wesleyan University team twice this season, and both times, they came agonizingly close to coming away with the upset win.

OCU (12-11, 5-9 SAC) hung right with the NAIA No. 20 Texas Wesleyan University Rams (17-6, 10-4 SAC), but the Rams were able to hold off a late charge from the Stars to take the 73-69 win.

Texas Wesleyan scored the first four points of the afternoon, but after that point, neither team had a lead of more than one possession until OCU got a 3-pointer from Elie Ghomsi with 9:40 remaining in the first half to put the Stars up 18-14. That basket ignited a 7-0 Stars' run that pushed OCU's lead to 22-14, and with 5:46 to go, A.J. Cockrell stretched the OCU lead to nine at 31-22. The Rams, however, answered that bucket with a 9-0 run to draw even, and the game went into the half tied at 36.

Texas Wesleyan came out in the second half and quickly took a six point lead on back-to-back 3-pointers, and the Rams held the lead for nearly the next nine minutes. The Rams' lead swelled to as many as eight points, but midway through the half, OCU put together a run to get back into the game. Anthony Davis scored in the paint with 12:06 to play, and he and Ghomsi combined to score the next seven points for OCU as the Stars rallied to take a 55-54 lead with 10:52 on the clock. 

Over the final 10 minutes of the game, neither team scored at a blistering pace as the defenses took control. The Rams quickly reclaimed the lead, but OCU held them in check and stayed within striking distance. Trae Bryant buried a trey with 6:19 to go in the game, and Darrion Willies followed with a pair of free throws at the 5:35 mark that tied the game at 60, but the Stars were unable to wrestle the lead back. After the Rams built a 5-point edge, Cockrell and Rashaun Coleman helped OCU pull within one at 65-64 with 3:58 to go, and in the final minute both Bryant and Coleman scored to pull the Stars within a single possession, but OCU was unable to get the critical stop when they needed it, and Texas Wesleyan held on for the 73-69 win.

Cockrell led the Stars in scoring in the game, coming off the bench to tally 19 points before fouling out of the game. Bryant added a dozen, Colemand and Davis each had 11, and Ghomsi added nine. Ghomsi led the Stars with six rebounds, and Coleman notched four assists. 

As a team, OCU made 29 of 55 (52.7%) field goal attempts, but in the final 20 minutes, that pace slowed to just more than 46 percent. The Stars struggled from long range, making only four of 16 (25%) 3-pointers, and OCU was just 7-for-11 (63.6%) from the charity stripe. The Stars also turned the ball over 24 times which led to 28 Texas Wesleyan points.

OCU will face another critical road test on Tuesday evening when they head to Southwestern Christian University (13-9, 6-8 SAC). The Stars are one game behind the Eagles in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings, but OCU did defeat SCU earlier this season at Abe Lemons Arena, which gives OCU a chance to secure a head-to-head tiebreaker over SCU with a win. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:45 p.m.
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