OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City University held onto a 69-65 victory over John Brown (Ark.) on Tuesday night at Abe Lemons Arena. 

Brandon Jackson recorded 20 points for Oklahoma City. The Stars improved to 5-6, 3-2 in Sooner Athletic Conference men's basketball. 

OCU raced out to a 12-0 advantage as John Brown failed to score for the first 6:18 of the game and missed its first 10 shots from the field.  

Jackson turned in 10 points as the Stars built a 23-4 lead midway through the first period. Zach Lerblance sank a 3-pointer to provide the Stars a 29-9 advantage with 5:15 remaining in the first half. 

Parker Jones scored a basket to put OCU ahead 56-39 with 8:58 to go in the game. John Brown climbed back into the contest by hitting nine of its 12 treys in the second half and seven 3-pointers in the last 8:29 of the game. 

Josh Stewart hit a 3 with 1:31 left, while Malachi Reeves nailed a trey with 25 seconds to go to slice OCU's lead to 65-63. Jackson, Kori Guest and Jones combined to down 4 of 6 free-throw attempts in the final 19 seconds to boost the Stars. Jones deflected D.J. Ellis' 3-point shot in the final five seconds.  

"We played very well in the first half, and in the second half, we just didn't execute or hit shots, and they hit a lot of shots," OCU coach Mark Berokoff said. "It's hard for a young team to sustain what we are doing. When you get a bigger lead, it's easy to relax, and the other team is not relaxing because they're pushing and they're well coached. We just have too many long stretches of not executing or not following through on the assignment."  

Jackson, a junior human performance major from Westmont, Calif., dished three assists and swiped three steals while shooting 7-for-12 from the floor. Guest, a senior criminal justice major from Tulsa, Okla., totaled 15 points and four rebounds. 

Avery Jackson, a freshman political science major from Frisco, Texas, chipped in 10 points, while Jack McWilliams, a 7-foot-1 freshman computer science major from Sydney, grabbed a season-best 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City. 

The Stars meet Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) at 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Abe Lemons Arena.