McPHERSON, KAN. -- The Oklahoma City men's basketball team suffered a tough setback in Saturday's Sooner Athletic Conference matchup that had major postseason implications for Central Christian as the Stars fell 91-84 after a late Tiger run.
Down by six at the intermission, Oklahoma City (5-15, 3-11) used a 9-2 out of the locker room to take its biggest lead of the day as Yorgio Golesis kicked off the run with back-to-back layups while Brandon Jackson swished a three after knocking down a pair of shots from the charity stripe.
Central Christian (9-10, 6-7) then responded with a 7-0 rally of its own, as Chris Whitten brought the Tigers back to within a single point with 11:06 to play.
The visitors held onto their lead for the next six minutes while even taking an eight-point lead as Clayton Jewell and Parker Jones helped spark yet another Oklahoma City run. However, Central was able to catch fire as the Tigers ignited a 9-1 run and took their first lead since the 17:39 mark after a triple by Jevarrick Butler with 4:28 to go.
Inside of four minutes, the two teams began trading baskets and taking turns controlling the lead. Avery Jackson was able to cut the Stars deficit to two points with 2:11 remaining but the Tigers were able to take advantage of a pair of technical fouls called on OCU giving Central Christian a trip to the line where it would convert on 5-of-6 attempts, stretching its lead to 85-78 without any time coming off the clock.
All of the momentum directly switched into the hands of the Tigers as Central closed out the final two minutes outscoring OCU 11-6, securing its ninth win of the season and sixth win in the conference while handing Oklahoma City its second consecutive defeat.
After holding Omari Maulana to just nine points in the previous meeting which came back on Dec. 2, Maulana led the way for Central Christian on Saturday afternoon scoring a season-high 31 points while shooting 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Avery Jackson notched his fifth game this season scoring 20 or more points with a 24-point day while going 3-of-5 from deep and a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
Jack McWilliams saw a big day inside as the seven-footer reached double-digit scoring for the third time this year with 15 points while shooting 7-of-8 from the field. Brandon Jackson rounded out the double-figure scorers for the Stars as the senior netted 19 points while going 6-for-6 from the foul line.
Central Christian had a scorching day from the field shooting an overall 45.2% while going 10-for-25 from three-point land (40 percent) tying the second-most threes the Tigers have made in a game all season.
Despite being outshot from the field, Oklahoma City had a solid day from the free throw line by going 22-for-27 (81.5 percent) while also dominating the rebounding efforts by a 48-37 margin while hauling in its third-best offensive rebound total of the year with 15 offensive boards.
With the win for Central Christian, the Tigers have earned back-to-back wins over the Stars for the first time in the all-time series dating back to 2018 after defeating OCU on Dec. 2, 68-61.
Oklahoma City will take a couple of days off before continuing its road trip in Plainview, Texas as the Stars take on Wayland Baptist Thursday, Feb. 1 at 7:45 PM.
