Men's Basketball 11/7/2012 2:43:00 PM

OCU vs. Central Oklahoma men's basketball preview

Tim Morton scored six points and grabbed four rebounds in 14 minutes against Champion Baptist.

7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8
Abe Lemons Arena

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University faces off with Central Oklahoma in a matchup of cross-town rivals.
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.

ABOUT THE STARS: The Stars dispatched Champion Baptist (Ark.) 79-62 in their home and season opener on Nov. 3. OCU was led by junior-transfer Ivan Matip. The guard from Ojai, Calif., pulled down a game-high 20 rebounds and posted a team-high 16 points. Matip currently leads NAIA Division I in defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds and total rebounds per game.
Point guard Charlton Jones chipped in with 15 points and 12 assists. The senior from Katy, Texas, was the Stars' leading assist man a season ago, passing out 5.7 assists per outing and currently sit No. 1 in the nation in assists per game and assist/turnover ratio. Jones grabbed six boards while only giving up one turnover.
Junior Terrence Walker added 12 points and eight rebounds. The forward from Jonesboro, Ark., shot 62 percent from the field and went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. Walker helped the Stars outscore Champion Baptist 42-20 in the paint.
The Stars rank No. 1 in NAIA Division I in offensive rebounds per game (23) and total rebounds per game (56). OCU checks in at No. 2 in total rebound margin (24) and third in free-throw percentage (0.83).
OCU received votes in the NAIA Division I men's basketball coaches' preseason top-25 poll. OCU was picked to finish fifth in the Sooner Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll.

ABOUT THE BRONCHOS: The Bronchos added 10 new players for the 2012-13 season. Central Oklahoma opens its season with an exhibition game against Oklahoma in Norman, Okla.
The Bronchos' leading returning scorer is Spencer Smith. The 6-foot-6 forward averaged 8.7 points and 3.1 rebounds a season ago.
Josh Davis is Central Oklahoma's leading returning rebounder. The 6-foot-5 senior pulled down 90 total rebounds in 2011-12.
Central Oklahoma went 15-11 a season ago and is picked to finish seventh in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association preseason coaches' poll.

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.
Terry Evans enters his 11th season as the Bronchos head man. Evans owns a record of 208-90 and has led Central Oklahoma to seven NCAA Division II national tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 and an Elite Eight appearance. As a player, Evans is the all-time leader in 3-point field goals and assists at Oklahoma.

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. To access live stats and live video for the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. The live 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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