CLAREMORE, Okla. – The No. 5 Rogers State men's basketball team led by curve-ball shooting guard Alex Ewings came back to snatch victory from the hands of the Oklahoma City Stars Thursday night inside the Claremore Expo Center, 81-79.

Ewings, a Jenks, Okla. native, finished the opening stanza scoreless as the Hillcats looked lethargic at times, entering the intermission down 43-35 to OCU. Then in the second half the junior guard took over as RSU trailed by eight points with 7:27 remaining. A Ewings four-point play with 6:53 remaining cut the Stars lead to four and gave the Cats life.

An offensive charge against OCU's Charlton Jones with 23 seconds remaining gave RSU the ball with one final shot. Justynn Hammond drove to the basket, kicked the ball out to Ewings who knocked down a right wing 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds remaining to give RSU an 81-79 lead. A final heave by the Stars Orlan Jackman was off the mark as time expired and the Hillcats returned to their winning ways.

Ewings finished with 18 points, all coming in the second half, as he missed just one shot on the night going 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from behind the arc.

Kendrell Thompson led the Hillcats in scoring with 20 points while Donald Williams finished with 17. Kenny Edwards chipped in 16 points for the Hillcats, going 2-of-3 from long distance as RSU hit 68.8 percent from 3-point range as a team.

Orlan Jackman led all scorers with 29 points for the Stars as the senior forward had 22 in the first half. OCU added 20 points from Tim Morton while Charlton Jones finished with 14, as the Stars hit 90 percent from the charity stripe. Oklahoma City (7-4, 4-3) committed 14 turnovers in the second half to finish with 16 in the contest.

Rogers State (13-1, 6-1) will travel to Mid-America Christian on Saturday, Jan. 7 for a 5 p.m. start time. Live audio streaming will be carried on www.rsuhillcats.com/live.