Lou Dunbar got hot at just the right time for Oklahoma City on Friday and there wasn't much John Brown could do to slow him down.
Dunbar scored 24 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and the No. 18-ranked Stars rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to take an 84-76 win over the Golden Eagles in Sooner Athletic Conference opener for both teams at Bill George Arena.
Oklahoma City trailed 44-37 at halftime, but the hot shooting of Dunbar helped the Stars catch JBU quickly in the second half.
"I think the first four to five minutes of the second half was really bad for us," said JBU head coach Jason Beschta. "We started letting our offense affect our defense, where we weren't scoring and had a few turnovers quickly, after doing really well with them in the first half. ... We've got to be able to shorten the runs. It's a game of runs. We've got to be able to shorten runs that teams go on."
Oklahoma City took the lead for good with 9 minutes, 36 seconds left in the second half on a basket inside by Tyler Alderman. Dunbar then went to work on the Golden Eagles, hitting four consecutive 3-point attempts and helping the Stars open up a nine-point advantage 73-64.
"He's got the ability to do that," Oklahoma City coach Vinay Patel said. "He can really shoot the basketball. He's one of the best that I've ever coached. When he's taking the right shots, he's got a chance to have a big night for us."
Dunbar finished 9 of 11 from the field and 5 of 7 from behind the 3-point line.
"I thought we gave him a couple of good looks, but I thought he hit some tough ones, too," Beschta said. "He was feeling it. He can really get going. He can flat-out shoot the basketball."
As a team, the Stars (7-0, 1-0) shot 32 of 53 from the field and 8 of 17 from behind the 3-point line. Alderman and Xavier Smith each had 12 points, while Syrus McDonald had 11 and Terence Bonhomme had 10.
"They just kept scoring, and we knew they would," Beschta said. "I mean they're really talented. You knew they were going to come out with some fire in the second half and really try and get back to defending, because they're a really talented team and their coach cares about that and is going to push them on that."
JBU (7-4, 0-1) only had five turnovers offensively in the first half, but the Stars doubled that total up to 10 in the second half.
The Golden Eagles hit 25 of 57 shots from the field and 10 of 25 from behind the 3-point line. Zach English led the Golden Eagles with 21 points, while Jake Caudle had 18 and Ricky Roberts 10.
"John Brown's a very good basketball team, and you said it, any time you can go on the road in this conference and get a win it's a big win," Patel said. "I thought they played extremely well. They had a great defensive game plan on us, and they had us rattled in the first half. I'm just proud of my guys for fighting back in the second half."
JBU returned to action on the road Saturday against St. Gregory's (Okla.). Results were not available at presstime.
The Golden Eagles return to action at 8 p.m. on Thursday against Ecclesia in their final regular season game of the fall semester. JBU will play a pair of exhibition games at Division I schools Oral Roberts on Dec. 10 and Baylor on Dec. 18.
Oklahoma City 84, John Brown 76
Oklahoma City^44^40^--^84
John Brown^37^39^--^76
Oklahoma City (7-0, 1-0): Dunbar 27, Alderman 12, X. Smith 12, McDonald 11, Bonhomme 10, Reed 6, Rickett 4, Patten 2.
John Brown (7-4, 0-1): English 21, Caudle 18, Roberts 10, Martinez 8, Bowling 7, B. Smith 6, Waller 4, Toussaint 2.
Sports on 12/04/2016