Men's Basketball 2/7/2014 2:36:00 PM

OCU at John Brown men's basketball preview

Stars come off third road victory of season at Northwood

Jamil Donovan ranks sixth in the Sooner Athletic Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio.

5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8
Bill George Arena in Siloam Springs, Ark.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University looks for the season series sweep of John Brown (Ark.) in the return game Saturday.
John Brown will induct its latest athletic hall of fame class in a luncheon prior to the basketball games Saturday.

ABOUT THE STARS: OCU dealt Northwood (Texas) an 85-77 defeat Feb. 1 in Cedar Hill, Texas. The Stars (11-8, 7-5 in the Sooner Athletic Conference) sank 50.9 percent of their shots from the field to shoot 50 percent for the fourth time this season. OCU's game vs. St. Gregory's originally scheduled for Thursday has been moved to Feb. 18.
Jamaal Crayton led the Stars with 23 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals against the Knights. The 6-foot-3 senior from Augusta, Ga., averaged 19.5 points, nine rebounds and five assists in two games a week ago and was dubbed SAC player of the week. Crayton leads the Stars with 5.8 rebounds per contest while producing 11.0 points and 1.26 steals a game.
Dorion Gigger provided 16 points and four rebounds off the bench. The 6-foot-4 freshman from Moore, Okla., shot 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line against Northwood. Gigger averages 3.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for the Stars. R.J. McGhee and Kaleb Smith each chipped in with 13 points. McGhee, a 6-6 senior from Baton Rouge, La., is averaging 17.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, and Smith, a 6-5 senior from Choctaw, Okla., averages 10.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per outing.
OCU ranks 25th nationally in field-goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot 42.1 percent. To see how the Stars stack up statistically with the rest of the NAIA, click here.
The Stars received votes in the most recent NAIA Division I top-25 poll. The Stars have been picked to finish fourth in the SAC in the preseason coaches' poll. OCU has won national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU has gone 26-15 against John Brown over the years. The Stars upended John Brown, then ranked 22nd, 76-66 on Jan. 9 at Abe Lemons Arena. Terry Johnson had 21 points and four steals while shooting 7-for-10 from the field.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES: John Brown edged Southwestern Christian 58-53 on Thursday in Bethany, Okla. John Brown (14-8, 4-8) held Southwestern Christian without a bucket in the final 2:32 as Gilbert Gyamfi's 3-pointer with 18 seconds left made the difference.
Gyamfi, a 6-4 senior, recorded 23 points and nine rebounds. Gyamfi averages 16.9 points and 5.9 rebounds a game. Kofi Josephs, a 6-6 sophomore, had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists. Josephs provides John Brown with 18.6 points and 4.1 rebounds a contest.
John Brown ranks 11th in the NAIA with a 48.6 percent field-goal percentage. SAC coaches pegged John Brown to take third in the league in the preseason.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Dionne Phelps owns a record of 40-34 in his third season as OCU coach. He led the Stars to the SAC Tournament title and an NAIA Division I Tournament appearance in 2012-13. 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.
Clark Sheehy has a 136-72 record in his seventh year at John Brown and a 164-101 career record in nine years as a head coach. The son of former John Brown coach John Sheehy, Clark became a two-time all-conference selection playing for his father at John Brown. Prior to returning to his alma mater, Sheehy spent two seasons at the helm at Fresno Pacific (Calif.) and five seasons assisting at NCAA Division I Texas State.

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest on OCU athletics through several ways.
Help OCU win an NAIA contest and gain more followers on social media in 2013-14. 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.

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 listen to the game, visit OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes will provide the play-by-play.
John Brown will provide live stats and video of the game. To watch the game, click here. To follow on live stats, click here.

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