8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17
Abe Lemons Arena
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University looks to maintain positioning in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings to make the postseason tournament in a contest against St. Gregory's. The top eight teams in the SAC make the tournament, and the Stars stand seventh.
Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 students and free to OCU students, faculty and staff with their ID.
ABOUT THE STARS: John Brown (Ark.) defeated OCU 67-66 on Monday at Abe Lemons Arena on Coleson Rakestraw's 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left. Brandon Moton's trey put OCU ahead 65-64 with 27 seconds remaining, but the Stars (15-10, 8-9 SAC) failed to overcome 12-of-27 shooting from the free-throw line.Moton, a 6-foot-3 junior from Beaumont, Texas, had 19 points and five assists. He sank 8 of 13 shots from the field Monday. Moton is tied with Nate Flowers for a team-leading 12.6 points a game while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range.
Dee Proby, a 6-10 senior from Round Rock, Texas, contributed 13 points, two rebounds and three assists. Proby averages 11.8 points and 4.3 rebounds a game. Flowers, a 6-5 senior from Waldorf, Md., leads OCU with 12.6 points and 10.2 rebounds a game.
OCU ranks third nationally in team field-goal percentage at 50.1 percent. To see where OCU stacks up statistically in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars were unranked in the latest NAIA Division I rankings. OCU had been picked to finish fifth in the SAC according to league coaches. Six-time national champion OCU has captured the SAC regular-season crown 11 times.
OCU owns a 30-0 record against St. Gregory's. The Stars narrowly escaped with a 68-65 victory over St. Gregory's on Jan. 22 in Shawnee, Okla. Shane Rogers knocked in a 3-pointer to provide the difference for OCU.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: St. Gregory's fell 78-68 to Wayland Baptist (Texas) on Saturday in Plainview, Texas. St. Gregory's (5-16, 2-15 SAC) drew to within four points with 4:43 remaining, but Wayland Baptist answered with six consecutive points.
Fayzon Richey, a 6-3 sophomore, rang up 38 points, hitting 6 of 12 3-pointers and 10-for-11 on free throws. Richey paces St. Gregory's with 22.5 points and 6.7 rebounds, ranking third in NAIA Division I in scoring. Dylan Lemley, a 6-5 freshman, scored 13 points. Lemley averages 14.1 points with a 45.8 percent 3-point shooting percentage.
SAC coaches figured St. Gregory's would finish 12th in the league in the preseason.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Kevin Morrissey has posted a 47-38 record in his third season at OCU. Morrissey spent the previous four seasons as St. Gregory's coach. He also has been an assistant at Missouri State and Texas-Pan American. Morrissey played his college ball at Oklahoma Baptist and Oral Roberts and high school at Bishop McGuinness in Oklahoma City.
John Martin is in his third season as head coach of the Cavaliers with a 14-63 record since succeeding Morrissey. Martin played college basketball at St. Gregory's, when it was a junior college, and OCU.
QUOTABLE: “It's a big motivating factor. It needs to be. There are six or seven teams that are really competing between third place in the conference and getting into the conference tournament, which would be eighth place. That was a big game Monday. These last five games are really imperative. We need to defend home court enough to have a chance to get into our tournament and play well there. Then it comes down to a three-game season.” – Morrissey on OCU playing to get into the SAC Tournament
LISTEN UP: Tune in to 1340 AM The Game at 3 p.m. Wednesday, when Morrissey will be a guest on David Garrett's show.
FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Be sure to catch the OCU Athletics Update video program weekly on ocusports.com, the OCU YouTube Channel or on 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.
Listen to past game broadcasts and pregame and postgame interviews on the OCU pod center by clicking here.
Check out OCU's 2010-11 men's basketball media guide by clicking here.
Know when the game is happening by calling the OCU athletics hotline at (405) 208-5400. Get conference scores and highlights by calling the SAC Hotline at (405) 878-2110.
OCU HOSTS THE SAC TOURNAMENT: The nation's premier NAIA basketball conference stages its postseason tournament at Abe Lemons Arena on the campus of Oklahoma City University on March 3-5. You'll want to be part of the action as NAIA Division I Tournament berths will be at stake in the Sooner Athletic Conference men's and women's basketball tournaments. For information, visit the tournament page. To see a promotional video about the SAC Tournament, click here.
ON THE AIR: The game will be broadcast via the OCU athletics web site. Greg Merick calls the action, while Andrew Himes adds commentary. Click here to listen to the broadcast, here for the live stats and here to access the video stream.
To order the video on ocusports.com/showcase, click on "Women's Basketball vs. St. Gregory's." Then either enter a user name and password or select "Sign up for a new all-access subscription."
