Men's Basketball 11/1/2012 2:49:00 PM

OCU vs. Champion Baptist men's basketball preview

Seniors Elhadji Wade, Troynell Adams, Charlton Jones, Shawn Grant and Tim Morton lead OCU into 2012-13.

2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University opens the season against Champion Baptist (Ark.) on homecoming.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students. OCU students, faculty and staff get in free to all Stars regular-season home events with their university ID. It's homecoming, and this year we honor the class of 1962, so make plans now to come home to OCU.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU went 12-15 last season, ending the 2011-12 campaign with a 90-85 overtime defeat at the hands of top-ranked eventual NAIA Division I runner-up Oklahoma Baptist on March 1 in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament in Siloam Springs, Ark. The Stars lost by an average margin of 5.9 points and lost three times in overtime last season.
Charlton Jones, a 6-foot-1 senior from Katy, Texas, collected 13.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.63 steals in 38.8 minutes a contest. Jones took honorable-mention all-SAC honors, ranking second in the league and 11th nationally in assists.
Tim Morton, a 6-9 senior from Capital Heights, Md., posted 9.1 points and 5.9 rebounds a game while shooting 54.3 percent from the field. Troynell Adams, a 6-4 senior from Chicago, provided the Stars with 8.4 points and 3.0 rebounds a game. Adams increased his averages to 11.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game the final nine games of the season, reaching double-digit scoring six times in that period.
The Stars received votes in the preseason NAIA Division I rankings. OCU owns six national championships won in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU and Champion Baptist have never before met in men's basketball.

ABOUT THE TIGERS: Champion Baptist defeated Robert Morris-Springfield (Ill.) 66-61 on Oct. 26 in Memphis, Tenn.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps enters his second season as OCU coach. Phelps took over the Stars after serving as assistant coach for Oklahoma, which featured future No. 1 NBA Draft pick Blake Griffin during his tenure. Phelps has been a part of four conference title teams as well as three NCAA Tournament teams during his 23-year coaching career. Phelps played for Texas Lutheran, eventually joining the Bulldog Athletic Hall of Fame.
Champion Baptist is coached by Eric Capaci. Capaci has led the Gospel Light Lions high school basketball team for over 15 years. He has led them in winning seven state championships over the course of his coaching career.

QUOTABLE: “We're going to have to be a team that really fights on the glass. We're going to have to be a team that fights every night on the defensive glass. We're not as big as what we were probably last year, but that means we're going to have to put extra effort into doing that. We're going to have to be a grind-it-out team defensively. I think every team has to be that, but we're going to have to really strive to be one of the better defensive teams in the league. And we have to take advantage of our strengths offensively, find that balance and make up for the size we don't have.” – Phelps

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/ocustars.
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.
Know when the game is happening by calling the OCU athletics hotline at (405) 208-5400.

ON THE AIR: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Andrew Himes will be the voice of the Stars in 2012-13 after previously providing commentary on the OCU broadcasts. To access the live audio, stats or video for the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here.
The live audio and stats will be provided free of charge, while the cost to see the video will be $7.95 per game. A men's basketball season pass that allows you to see all the Stars' 2012-13 home games costs $29.95, while an 2012-13 all-sports pass costs $79.95.

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