FORT WORTH, TX: The Texas Wesleyan University men's basketball (9-0, 1-0 SAC) took a thrilling 92-90 Sooner Athletic Conference win over Oklahoma City University (3-3, 0-1 SAC) at the Sid Richardson Center on Thursday.
The Rams overcame a 12-point deficit and a remarkable shooting night from OCU's Evan White to earn the win.
The Stars jumped ahead early 10-2 thanks to five points from Jamil Donovan. The Rams worked back and eventually tied the contest at 21-21 with a layup from
Jerrell Ellis, but the Stars regained control and led by as many as 12, 42-30, with 4:20 on the clock.
Two baskets from
Hasani Sumbry highlighted an 8-2 Texas Wesleyan run to close the half and send the Rams to the locker room trailing by only four at 44-40.
The Rams shot a paltry 39% in the first half, but used 12 offensive rebounds to keep the game close. In the second half, the rim proved much friendlier as the Rams hit at a 56% clip.
The momentum stayed with Texas Wesleyan out of the intermission. The Rams took a 50-48 lead on a three from
Sam Akano 3:30 into the period.
Oklahoma City regained the lead, 57-55 with a layup from Evan White and used a pair of dunks from R.J. McGhee to stretch the margin to six at 73-67.
The lead changed hands two more times before the Stars took command of the game 88-82 with just 1:13 to play. Akano stepped to the line with 1:04 to play and knocked down a pair of free throws. After an OCU miss, Akano nailed a three and then came up with a steal.
With 28 seconds to play
Demarcus Richardson, playing his first game of the year, hit two clutch free throws to put the Rams on top 89-88. An OCU turnover led to two free throws for Ellis, and the Rams led 91-88 with nine seconds remaining.
In the final seconds,
Brennen Shingleton elected to foul the Stars, and Gary Inglett hit two free throws to close to within a point. The Stars fouled and
Merv Lindsay hit one of two to bring the score to 92-90 with seven seconds remaining. The Stars drove the length of the court and OCU head coach Dionne Phelps called his final timeout with 1.7 showing on the clock. The Rams stiffened defensively, and OCU was unable to get a shot off as time expired.
"I was really impressed with the toughness of our team tonight," Shingleton commented. "OCU is the best team we have played this year. They are coached tremendously well and are as athletic as any team in the country. We just found ways to win tonight. That's going to be the league this year, and our team will learn to move on to the next challenge and more importantly focus on our final exams tomorrow before we get ready for Saturday."
For the game, the Stars outshot the Rams 50.8% - 46.7% from the floor and 50% - 40% from long range. However, the Rams led 48-33 on the glass while pulling down 22 offensive rebounds. That led to a 21-11 advantage in second chance points for the Rams. Both teams turned the ball over 18 times, but those miscues led to 30 points for the Rams and only 21 for the Stars.
Evan White entered the game averaging 3.8 points per game on 5-of-15 shooting, but he kept the Stars in the game with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting including 5-of-6 from three-point range. McGhee also dropped in 27 points for OCU.
The Rams were led by Akano's season-high 27 points, while Ellis came off the bench to score 23 points.
Merv Lindsay added 12 points, while
Chris Gracela posted eight pointe, 12 rebounds, and five assists.
Sean McLean just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
The Rams will return to action on Saturday, when they travel to Bethany, OK, for an SAC contest with Southwestern Christian University. That game is scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. start.
Ramblings
- 9-0 is the best start for the Rams since going 11-0 in 2010-11. The best start in program history was 19-0 in 1940-41.
- The Rams are +12.1 in rebounding this season.
- Texas Wesleyan is 10-9 all-time vs. Oklahoma City including a win in the 2006 NAIA National Championship game. The Rams are 4-0 all-time vs. Southwestern Christian and 9-12 all-time in SAC play.
