OCU at Our Lady of the Lake men's basketball preview

Stars puts their four-game win streak on line

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30
Mabee Gymnasium in San Antonio

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University takes on Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) to conclude this season's home-and-home series.
Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Children under the age of 7 get in for free. For ticket information, click here.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City dispatched Philander Smith (Ark.) 91-69 on Dec. 22 at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (5-1) rolled up a 45-17 advantage in points off the bench.
Evan White, a 6-foot-4 senior from San Antonio, posted a team-high 20 points to go with six rebounds, two assists and three 3-pointers off the pine. White supplies OCU with 7.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.
Dorion Gigger, a 6-5 junior from Oklahoma City, accumulated 17 points and 22 rebounds. Gigger broke OCU's 18-year-old single-game rebounding record, recorded the highest rebounding total in the Sooner Athletic Conference this season and vaulted into the No. 1 spot among the NAIA Division I's season rebounding leaders. Gigger compiles 12.8 points and 11.2 rebounds a game. Terence Bonhomme, a 6-foot sophomore from St. Martinsville, La., had 13 points, three assists and three treys. Bonhomme averages 14.2 points and 2.8 rebounds a contest while shooting 50 percent from 3-point range.
The Stars sink 41.1 percent of their 3-pointers to rate fifth nationally. To see how OCU ranks statistically among NAIA Division I, click here.
OCU has been slotted to take sixth in the Sooner Athletic Conference according to the preseason coaches poll. Oklahoma City has won or shared the SAC regular-season championship 12 times, most recently in 2007-08. OCU has captured six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
OCU improved to 2-0 in the all-time series against Our Lady of the Lake. The Stars routed Our Lady of the Lake 92-79 on Nov. 24 in Oklahoma City. Noel Allen and Lou Dunbar each scored 18 points to pace OCU.

ABOUT THE SAINTS: Stephen F. Austin pummeled Our Lady of the Lake 95-56 in a Dec. 19 exhibition in Nacogdoches, Texas. Our Lady of the Lake (5-3) has a 2-1 record against ranked competition after a 117-104 win Dec. 17 against 12th-ranked Wayland Baptist (Texas).
Joe Jackson, a 6-6 junior, registered 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots Dec. 19. Jackson pulled down 23 rebounds against Wayland Baptist to lead the NAIA this season. Jackson tops Our Lady of the Lake with 18.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.25 blocks a game. Darion Brown, a 5-7 sophomore, had seven points, seven assists and two steals against Stephen F. Austin. Brown averages 11.3 points, 6.1 assists and 1.88 steals a game.
Our Lady of the Lake leads the NAIA with 13.50 3-pointers per game and a plus-6.88 turnover margin. Red River Athletic Conference coaches placed Our Lady of the Lake tied for third in the preseason league poll.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Vinay Patel embarks on his first season as OCU head coach. He came to Oklahoma City after spending one season as Rogers State's assistant coach. He aided Rogers State to a 20-8 season led by conference player of the year Frederico Santos. Patel spent nine years as assistant at West Texas A&M. During that time, West Texas went to the NCAA Division II Tournament five times, won the Lone Star Conference championship and took two Lone Star South Division titles. He elevated to the interim head-coaching position before he ended his time at West Texas A&M.
Ryan Wall is in his third year as Our Lady of the Lake head coach with a 51-20 record. In July 2012, he was named assistant coach, and in 2013-14, he took over as interim head coach for the Saints. In May 2014, he officially became the head coach.

QUOTABLE: "I've been on them about being more aggressive and getting to the basket to give us a chance to get to the free-throw line. That's something we've talked about, Evan and I. If his 3s are not falling, get to the free-throw line. I love that he came out and played aggressively as he did. That's how he played at the beginning of the year." - Patel on White's performance Dec. 22

FOLLOW THE STARS: Fans can keep up on the latest from OCU athletics through several ways.
Check out OCU athletics on several social media platforms by looking up the handle @ocustars. The Stars are on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and new for 2015-16, Instagram.
Fans can sign up to receive the latest OCU athletic headlines via e-mail by going here.
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: Our Lady of the Lake offers fans the opportunity to follow the game via live video and live stats.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Terence Bonhomme: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#22 Lou Dunbar: G; 6' 3"; Sophomore

#32 Dorion Gigger: F; 6' 5"; Junior

#12 Evan White: G; 6' 4"; Senior

#1 Noel Allen: F; 6' 6"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#5 Terence Bonhomme
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: G

#22 Lou Dunbar
: 6' 3"; Sophomore
: G

#32 Dorion Gigger
: 6' 5"; Junior
: F

#12 Evan White
: 6' 4"; Senior
: G

#1 Noel Allen
: 6' 6"; Senior
: F