Box Score WICHITA, Kan. (Dec. 19, 2016) – Sometimes, deciphering why a basketball team lost a game isn't difficult. That was the case for Oklahoma Christian on Monday afternoon at Newman (Kan.).

Newman shot 15-of-26 from 3-point range while OC went 3-of-16, which was the difference as OC fell 86-71 to the Jets at Fugate Gymnasium.

Keilan Horton, Elijah Strickland and John Moon combined for 56 points for OC (5-4, 1-1 Heartland Conference), but only three other players scored for the Eagles against Newman (4-7, 2-0).

"They knocked down some tough shots and they got some easy ones in transition," OC coach Cory Cole said. "We've just got to defend the arc better. As the home team, they shot lights-out Thursday (against St. Edward's) and we knew that coming it, and they took advantage of that again.

"In conference, you've got to be thieves on the road. You've got to play an 'A' game to steal a game in the Heartland. We didn't give an 'A' game in terms of production, but we did give an 'A' game in effort and that's something we can build on."

The Eagles jumped to a 15-5 lead in the first seven minutes before Newman's 3-point barrage began in earnest. The Jets had two 3-pointers during a 17-4 run that gave them the lead and had five more in the final 5:06 of the half. Four of these were by Daniel Nwosu, the last one with :06 left in the half that gave Newman a 41-32 lead.

Led by Horton, who scored 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting, OC closed that gap and pulled within 52-51 on a 3-pointer by Zach Norris with 13:48 left. But the Jets responded with a 16-2 run that included three more 3-pointers, the last by Allen Wilson at the 7:04 mark that made it 71-56.

OC came within 76-69 with 2:40 left on a tap-in by Moon, who had 16 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots, but ran out of gas. Newman ended the game on a 10-2 run.

Taylor Schieber went 5-of-9 from behind the arc and led the Jets with 23 points, while Nwosu had 19. Four Jets had at least two 3-pointers.

Strickland scored 17 points for OC. The Eagles did outrebound Newman 40-35, with 16 of those offensive rebounds for OC.

"We had some solid play," Cole said. "EJ (Strickland) played well, and Keilan and John. At times we defended better in the first half and I really thought we got our intensity going. In the second half, it was just playing both ends. I thought a bright spot for us was offensive rebounds. We had a lot of hustle plays."

Moon moved past Collis Clark, who played for OC from 1983-87, into 17th place on the Eagles' career scoring list. Moon now has 1,586 points.

The Eagles will be off until a nonconference clash at cross-Edmond rival Central Oklahoma on Dec. 29. OC's next conference game will be at home on Dec. 31 against St. Edward's (Texas).

Cory Cole discusses the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DSGPs1ImJM&feature=em-upload_owner