OKLAHOMA CITY — OCU outscores Science & Arts 51-36 in the second half to earn its third straight win inside Abe Lemons Arena on Saturday afternoon to keep its SAC tournament hopes alive.
After holding a 15-11 lead after a James Cloud three, Science & Arts (18-8, 13-7) rallied to a 15-2 run to reach its largest lead of the half of nine points with 6:55 left to play.
Oklahoma City (9-17, 7-13) found its way back toward the end of the half with a 10-3 run as Parker Jones supplied back-to-back layups to cut the deficit to three with under two minutes left.
Coming out of the locker room USAO led 36-29 and opened the half with a quick 5-0 run and took a 12-point lead eight minutes in.
After being down by their largest margin of the day, the Stars climbed back with a pair of threes from Beau Tranter and a shot from deep by Clayton Jewell, which OCU to within six.
Jewell continued to find the bottom of the net before freshman counterpart Yorgio Golesis stapled the game-tying bucket with 8:37 to go.
Oklahoma City took its first lead since the 9:58 mark of the first half as Brandon Jackson got a layup to go with 7:58 to play.
Once taking control of the lead the Stars never looked back crawling up to as much as a 10-point advantage an found a way to solidify an eight-point victory on Saturday afternoon over the drovers.
Freshman Clayton Jewell led the way for OCU with 18 points on eight rebounds while including a pair of blocks on the day. Jewell reached double figures in scoring for the second straight time out and third time in the last four games.
Jewell's freshman partner Yorgio Golesis tabbed 17 points in the game as the young point guard tallied three rebounds and three assists without committing a turnover.
The Jackson duo combined for just 22 points on the day as Brandon sank one of the five OCU threes and scored 14 points while hauling in the second-highest total of rebounds on the day with seven. Avery, however, was held scoreless throughout the first 20 minutes and finished the game with eight points, coming within 62 points from the 1000 mark with two games left.
The Stars held the advantage over the Drovers from the field and from the line as OCU shot 40.8% from the field while going 13-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Oklahoma City dominated inside holding a 50-16 margin of points in the paint over USAO.
The Stars will be back in action on the road in the final week of the regular season as Oklahoma City takes on Mid-America Christian inside the Gaulke Activity Center on Thursday night (Feb. 22) at 7:45 PM.
