Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals
8 p.m. Thursday, March 3
Abe Lemons Arena
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University aims to play the spoiler against 10th-ranked Oklahoma Baptist.OCU has won the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament eight times – 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2008.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students.
ABOUT THE STARS: Southern Nazarene held off OCU 71-69 on Saturday in Bethany, Okla. Brandon Moton sank a 3-pointer to cut the Stars' deficit to 69-68 with five seconds remaining, while Cesar Cuevas' desperation putback to tie the game missed as time ran out. The Stars ended the regular season 17-13.
Nate Flowers, a 6-foot-5 senior from Waldorf, Md., racked up his 16th double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Flowers records 12.8 points and 9.7 rebounds a game, ranking No. 1 in the SAC and eighth in the NAIA in rebounding.
Dee Proby, a 6-10 senior from Round Rock, Texas, came off the bench to record 15 points, six rebounds and two steals. Proby adds 11.5 points and 4.3 rebounds a game. Orlan Jackman, a 6-6 junior from London, compiled eight points and seven rebounds. Jackman averages 11.9 points and 5.4 rebounds a game.
OCU's 50.2 percent field-goal percentage ranks second in NAIA Division I. To see where OCU stacks up statistically in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars were unranked in the latest NAIA Division I rankings. Six-time national champion OCU has captured the SAC regular-season crown 11 times.
OCU holds the all-time series lead over Oklahoma Baptist at 61-48. Oklahoma Baptist won 99-82 on Feb. 18 in Shawnee, Okla. Jackman had 22 points and six rebounds to top OCU.
ABOUT THE BISON: Oklahoma Baptist edged Oklahoma Christian 73-72 on Saturday in Shawnee, Okla. Maurice Foster nailed two 3-pointers in the final eight seconds to rally Oklahoma Baptist (23-7) to the SAC regular-season championship. To see Foster's 30-foot buzzer-beating trey, click here.
Foster, a 6-3 senior, finished with 22 points and six rebounds. Foster went 5-for-7 on 3s. Foster compiles 17.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.40 steals a game. Tim Bowman, a 5-11 senior, scored 17 points Saturday. Bowman chips in 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists a game. SAC player of the year Kevin Swinton, a 6-8 senior, averages 19.0 points and 7.7 rebounds a game.
ABOUT THE COACHES: Kevin Morrissey has posted a 49-41 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.
Doug Tolin brought Oklahoma Baptist its first national championship since 1966 last season. Tolin has led OBU to a 304-79 record and 10 consecutive national-tournament appearances in his 11th season. Tolin's overall coaching record stands at 624-305 in 33 years as a head coach.
QUOTABLE: “It is not the way we would have liked to have gotten into the tournament, but the guys really worked hard today. The guys really gave us a great shot today to win at Southern Nazarene, and it just didn't happen for us, but we're excited to get into the tournament and it's a new season and we will be ready to play.
“I really felt like those guys had great effort. We had a game plan, and they executed it for the most part. We wanted to dictate tempo and limit their runouts, and I felt like they had a lot of runouts in the first half and I challenged the guys again at halftime, we can't have them have so many runouts and I don't believe they did the second half. It just came down to a few rebounds.” – Morrissey on OCU's performance Saturday
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 www.youtube.com/oklahomacityuniver.
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 the tournament commercial click here.
OCU SAC TOURNAMENT BROADCASTS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: All About Car Care with Scotty Dee, Benchmark Financial Group, Inc., Black Diamond Retrievers, Brandi Levings, Redbud Realty & Associates, Campbell Metal Works, Central Oklahoma Frontier Country, Dr. Gary A. Rouse, OMS Technologies, Rite Tech Cell Phone & Computer Repair, Win Shelton State Farm Agency and XL Specialized Trailers.
ON THE AIR: The game will be broadcast via the OCU athletics web site. Greg Merick serves as the voice of the Stars, while Andrew Himes will provide color commentary. Click here to listen to the broadcast, here to follow via live stats and here to access the live video stream.
To order the video on ocusports.com/showcase, click on "SAC Tournament - Day 1." Then either enter a user name and password or select "Sign up for a new all-access subscription."
