Box Score ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University withstood a late Oklahoma Christian University rally and eked out a 67-64 win Thursday night in Heartland Conference action at Ron Holmes Court at Kimbrell Arena.

"We almost gave it away there, but we held on," McM head coach Clif Carroll said following the game. "We were tied with them (OCU) in the Heartland Conference standings and this is the only time we play them this year. To get the head-to-head win was important."

McM led 61-52 with 3:06 remaining in regulation and looked poised to easily closeout the game. However, OCU responded and withered McM's lead to just three with less than 10 seconds remaining.

The War Hawks' defense stood true and forced an errant 3-pointer as time expired to secure the victory.

"If we would have made our free throws down the stretch this wouldn't have happened," said Carroll, who saw his team end a four-game skid. "Defense is something we struggle with and to see them step up on the final possession is great."

The first half was a stalemate and the first half ended tied at 31-31.

Trailing 37-36 at 17:28 in the second stanza, McM went on a 17-4 run the lasted nearly eight minutes.

"Offense was really starting to click in the second half and we were confident," Carroll said. "We just need to be more consistent and limit our turnovers."

The War Hawks received a healthy dose of junior Brandon Golden. The 6-foot-4 guard missed a couple games due to an upper body injury. Golden scored a team-high 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting field.

"Having Brandon (Golden) back is huge for us," Carroll said. "He's a great shooter and not having him in our lineup hurt us. Teams have to respect his 3-point shooting ability."

Junior Connor Robinson (Austin, Texas/Bowie HS) dropped 17 points and was 6-of-9 from the field and Alex Lewis (Converse, Texas/Temple College) recorded 10 points and 11 rebounds for the double-double. Alfred Perez (Spring, Texas/Klein Collins HS) helped out with 11 points.

Golden (Austin, Texas/Coastal Bend College) was 5-of-6 from the charity stripe, which included two late to put the War Hawks up by three.

Kendre Talley scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Eagles (7-11, 3-7 HC).

McM (9-10, 4-6 HC) welcomes Dallas Baptist University Saturday afternoon.