Men's Basketball 1/23/2013 4:06:00 PM

OCU at St. Gregory's men's basketball preview

Shawn Grant averages 5.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per outing for the Stars.

8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24
W.P. Wood Field House in Shawnee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University looks to return to its winning ways in a road contest with Sooner Athletic Conference foe St. Gregory's.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU fell 81-74 to Mid-America Christian Tuesday at Abe Lemons Arena and moves to 8-7 overall and 1-6 in SAC play. The loss was the fifth straight for the Stars.
Guard Terry Johnson paced the Stars' attack with 25 points against Mid-America Christian. The 6-foot senior from Chicago topped the 20-point mark for the sixth time this season and leads the Stars with 16.4 points per contest. Johnson is fourth in NAIA Division I in free throw percentage shooting 88 percent from the charity stripe.
Senior Charlton Jones notched 17 points six assists and five rebounds in 34 minutes of action. The 6-foot-1 point guard from Katy, Texas, leads the SAC and the Stars with 6.6 assists per game. Jones is seventh in NAIA Division I in assists per game (6.6) and 12th in total assists (99) and assists/turnover ratio (2.6).
Troynell Adams, a senior from Chicago, pitched in 18 points and grabbed six rebounds against the Evangels. The 6-foot-4 guard is second on the squad with 14.0 points per game and third with 4.8 rebounds per outing. Adams has score double-digit points 11 times this season.
The Stars are ranked second in NAIA Division I in free throw percentage (0.76) and 10th in assist/turnover ratio (1.1) while freshman Jamil Donovan leads the nation in assist/turnover ratio averaging 6.4 assists for every turnover. To see how the Stars stack up against the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars have been predicted to finish fifth in the SAC by league coaches. OCU has won or shared the SAC regular-season championship 12 times in 1987, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008. OCU has won six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU holds a 30-2 all-time record against St. Gregory's. The first recorded OCU men's basketball intercollegiate game came against St. Gregory's in 1922-23 90 years ago. OCU, led by coach E.B. Cottrell, won 50-13. The two schools did not meet each other again until Dec. 3, 1997, by which time St. Gregory's had joined along with OCU in the SAC. In their last meeting the Cavaliers topped the Stars 77-61 at W.P. Wood Field House on Feb. 22, 2012.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: St. Gregory's fell 93-58 at the hands of Rogers State Saturday at the Claremore Expo Center in Claremore, Okla. The Cavaliers are 6-9 overall and 0-6 in SAC play entering the contest.
Fayzon Richie posted 10 points on 100 percent shooting against the Hillcats. The 6-foot-3 guard leads the SAC and is fifth in NAIA Division I with 22.0 points per game.
Forward Tim Stromberg led the way with 12 points and three rebounds off the bench against Rogers State. Stromberg leads the Cavaliers in field goal percentage shooting 58 percent from the floor.
Devonte Young notched six points in the 93-58 loss. The 5-foot-10 guard leads St. Gregory's in assists (2.8) and steals per game (1.67) and is second on the team with 7.8 points per contest.
St. Gregory's is ranked ninth in NAIA Division I in defensive rebounds per game (28.6) and 11th in total rebounds per game (41.1). The Cavaliers were picked to finish ninth in the SAC by league coaches.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps is in 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.
John Martin is in his fifth season as head coach of the Cavaliers with a 27-97 overall record since taking the helm. Martin played college basketball at St. Gregory's, when it was a junior college, and OCU.

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. Get conference scores and highlights by dialing (405) 878-2110.

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 serves as the voice of the Stars. To access the live audio for the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here.
St. Gregory's will provide live stats for the game. To follow the game via live stats, click here.

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