OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Oklahoma City (7-4, 3-1 SAC) used 16 steals to prompt 22 turnovers by the No. 22 Golden Eagles and shot 72.0 percent in the first half, sending John Brown (11-3, 1-3 SAC) to its third-straight loss tonight at Abe Lemons Arena.
After starting out a program-best 11-0 on the 2013-14 season, the Golden Eagles have suffered a trio of setbacks to unranked opponents to start out the new year.
Kofi Josephs continued his torrid output, following up his career-high 33 points at Texas Wesleyan last Saturday with a 25-point outburst which included five triples as he finished 7-of-14 from the floor. Gilbert Gyamfi returned from a two-game absence and contributed 16 points and five rebounds off the bench while Kurtis Phillips finished as the third Golden Eagle in double-digits, pouring in 11 points while grabbing eight rebounds and throwing around three assists.
Samson Olayemi dished out a team-high four helpers and Max Hopfgartner collected 10 rebounds, three on the offensive glass, leading him to his second-straight double-digit effort on the boards.
The Stars began the game fending off continuous John Brown rallies as the Golden Eagles forced a score of 18-16, courtesy of a Josephs' layup at the 9:27 mark. The JBU offense would falter after that, however, as the Golden Eagles managed just five field goals for the remainder of the half while Oklahoma City secured the final six points of the first half, punctuated with a two-handed OCU jam with 12 seconds left, sending John Brown to the intermission facing a 45-29 halftime deficit.
The hosts couldn't miss in the first half, knocking down 72.0 percent of its shots, including an 15-of-20 mark inside the arc and a 6-of-6 effort from the free throw line. The Golden Eagles also shot well in the first stanza, scoring at a 42.9 percent clip (12-of-28), but went just 3-of-10 from long range in the first 20 minutes.
The roles reversed in the second half as the Stars returned to a 31.3 percent mark while the Golden Eagles improved to 55.0 percent. The difference occurred in number of opportunities as OCU took 12 more shots than JBU in the final 20 minutes, mostly due to the number of Golden Eagles turnovers.
Despite five converted shots at the line, it took John Brown exactly four minutes to connect on its first field goal as Josephs knocked down a triple, returning the OCU led back to nine, 45-36. Back-to-back layups from Phillips and Zach English kept the host advantage at 51-41 at the 12:34 mark and consecutive three-pointers from Josephs brought the margin to just eight, 59-51.
It was too little too late when JBU used a pair of Gyamfi triples and another trey from Phillips in the final 89 seconds as the Golden Eagles weren't able to convert a field goal for the previous 4:47, allowing OCU an 11-4 run over the stretch.
Out-rebounding the Stars, 30-27, did little for second-chance points as each team each netted seven. Oklahoma City made JBU pay for its miscues, scoring 27 points off Golden Eagle errors.
John Brown will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 11), looking to shake off the three-game skid when it welcomes Southwestern Christian (Okla.) to Bill George Arena for a 5:00 p.m. tip-off.
