FORT WORTH - Texas Wesleyan Unversity (1-3) erased a 16-point second-half deficit before losing to Oklahoma Wesleyan University (5-0) 75-62 on Thursday at Sid Richardson Center. Texas Wesleyan shot 50.0% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range but committed 27 turnovers.
Texas Wesleyan opened with a
Caleb Harris jumper and a
Michael DeHorney free throw for a 3-0 lead, but Oklahoma Wesleyan moved in front 5-3 before DeHorney's 3-pointer off an assist from
James Stevenson put Texas Wesleyan back ahead 6-5 at 14:59. Oklahoma Wesleyan scored the next six points to go up 11-6 before
Devon Carter hit two free throws,
Aiden White scored inside and Carter finished a dunk off a
Daniel Sohn assist for a 12-11 Texas Wesleyan lead at 9:18. After a 14-14 tie at 9:06, Oklahoma Wesleyan moved back ahead with a Malachi Okunbor layup and free throw and a Yashi McKenzie jumper, then stretched a 19-16 lead to 26-16 on a Cash McAlvain 3-pointer, two Jaden Wilson free throws and a Nick Bene layup. Texas Wesleyan got late free throws from Sohn and
Jensen Knowles, but Oklahoma Wesleyan carried a 29-20 lead into halftime.
After Oklahoma Wesleyan scored the first seven points of the second half to push Texas Wesleyan into a 36-20 deficit at 18:28, Texas Wesleyan answered with 10 straight points, getting a Stevenson layup, a Knowles 3-pointer, two Sohn free throws and a
Caleb Harris 3-pointer to cut it to 36-30 at 16:26. Oklahoma Wesleyan moved back ahead 47-40 on Jermiah Johnson's layup at 12:52, but Texas Wesleyan came back with
Devon Carter's 3-pointer, a White free throw, Carter's dunk, White's steal and dunk for a 48-47 lead at 10:51 and White's 3-pointer that made it 51-47 at 10:20. Oklahoma Wesleyan regained the lead on Angel Hidalgos' 3-pointer at 8:18 and stretched the margin to 62-53 on Money Robinson's layup at 5:01 before
Michael DeHorney's 3-pointer cut Texas Wesleyan's deficit to 62-57 at 3:54. Jaden Wilson answered with a 3-pointer, Yashi McKenzie added a jumper and Oklahoma Wesleyan continued to score late, closing out a 75-62 win.
Knowles scored a team-high 17 points, converting six of seven from the field and three of four from 3-point range. DeHorney added 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting with two 3-pointers.
Juraj Minarovjech recorded a team-best three steals. Carter finished with nine points, three rebounds and two steals.
The Rams return to action on Nov. 14 against the University of North Texas Dallas on the road.
