Men's Basketball 11/17/2011 2:24:00 PM

Halo Classic men's basketball preview

Charlton Jones averages seven assists per game.

6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18
vs. St. Thomas (Texas)
4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19
vs. Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)
Mabee Gymnasium in San Antonio

THE MATCHUP: Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) hosts the Halo Classic featuring Lubbock Christian (Texas), Oklahoma City University and St. Thomas (Texas). The Stars face St. Thomas on Friday and tournament-host OLLU on Saturday.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars are 1-1 on the season. OCU fell 57-56 to Dallas Baptist in its season opener, but rebounded with a 72-28 victory against Southwestern Adventist (Texas) on Nov. 7. The Stars challenged North Texas in an exhibition game on Nov. 9, but lost 67-54.
Junior C.J. Busby posted a game-high 17 points against North Texas and leads the team in scoring, averaging 16 points per game. The 6-6 forward from Beaumont, Texas, is shooting 50 percent from behind the 3-point line and 47 percent from the field.
Orlan Jackman, of London, chipped in with 15 points and seven rebounds against North Texas. The 6-6 post player averages 10 points and five rebounds per game this season. Jackman is shooting 54 percent from the field.
Point guard Charlton Jones scored six points and passed out six assist at North Texas. The junior from Katy, Texas, has tallied at least six assists in all three contests this season.
The Stars rank first in the NAIA in scoring defense per game, 42.5, and fifth in steal per game with 14.

ABOUT THE CELTS: St. Thomas, of the Red River Athletic Conference, is 2-1 on the season with wins against Langston and Wayland Baptist (Texas) and a 104-75 loss to St. Edward's (Texas). St. Thomas Guard Travis Lampley leads the team with 16 points per game. Forward Andrew Graves averages 12 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest and forward Anthony Medina adds 10 points and six rebounds per game. The Celts are currently ranked first in the NAIA in team free-throw percentage at 78 percent.

ABOUT THE SAINTS: OLLU, also of the Red River Athletic Conference, enters the tournament with a 1-2 record. The Saints lost to Northwestern Oklahoma State and fourth-ranked Concordia (Calif.) and picked up a 91-75 win over Vanguard (Calif.) on Nov. 12. Forward Marco Cooper leads the Saints with 23 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Guard Josh Orta averages 16 points per game and guard Lo Ron Smith chips in with 11 per game. OLLU ranks fifth in the NAIA in 3-pointers made per game, 9.3, and 12th in points scored per game averaging 91.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps enters his first season as a head coach with OCU. Phelps took over the Stars after serving as assistant coach at Oklahoma. Phelps has been a part of four conference title teams as well as three NCAA Tournament teams during his 22-year coaching career. Phelps played for Texas Lutheran, eventually joining the Bulldogs Athletic Hall of Fame.
Todd Smith enters his third season as head coach at St. Thomas. Smith has an overall record of 23-29. Smith joined St. Thomas after an 11 year stint as an assistant at Rice. Smith was a four year player at Valparaiso.
Russell Vanlandingham also enters his third season as head coach at OLLU. Vanlandingham posts an overall record of 39-22 in his first two seasons. He was named conference co-coach of the year in 2009-10. Vanlandingham was an assistant at McMurry (Texas) and West Texas A&M before taking the helm at OLLU.

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Become a fan of the Oklahoma City University Stars on Facebook by going to www.facebook.com/ocustars.
Become a follower of the OCU Stars on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ocustars.
Check out video of the Stars in action at http://www.youtube.com/ocustars.
Be sure to catch the OCU Athletics Update video program weekly on ocusports.com, the OCU YouTube Channel or on the OCU Athletics' Facebook page. Click here to see the latest edition or see our video channel in the upper right-hand corner of our home page.
Know when the game is happening by calling the OCU athletics hotline at (405) 208-5400.

ON THE AIR: All Halo Classic games will be broadcast over the internet. To watch or follow live stats of games click here.

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