OCU at Mid-America Christian men's basketball preview

Stars aim to halt Mid-America Christian's four-game winning streak

Jonathan Reed comes off a career-high 11-point output Saturday.

Men's Basketball | 1/13/2016 2:18:00 PM

8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14
Gaulke Activity Center in Oklahoma City

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University looks for a bounceback win against Mid-America Christian on the road.
It will be Chick-Fil-A night featuring free food giveaways, games, prizes and an appearance by the official Chick-Fil-A cow.

ABOUT THE STARS: John Brown (Ark.) dealt OCU its first loss of the season at home and in the Sooner Athletic Conference 75-64 on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (6-4, 3-1 SAC) made a season-low 11 free throws on 19 attempts.
Noel Allen, a 6-foot-6 senior from Gutenberg, N.J., posted 20 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Allen reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time this season. He provides the Stars with 8.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest while hitting 53.7 percent from the field.
Dorion Gigger, a 6-5 junior from Oklahoma City, picked his third double-double of the season with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Gigger records 12.1 points and 10.0 rebounds a game. Jonathan Reed, a 5-7 sophomore from Powder Springs, Ga., had a career-high 11 points to go with four assists. Reed averages 5.7 points, 2.9 assists and 1.40 steals per game.
The Stars gathers 33.2 defensive rebounds a game to rank 17th in NAIA Division I. 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.
The Stars hold the series lead 16-6. OCU toppled Mid-America Christian 72-67 on Feb. 5, 2015 at the Gaulke Activity Center.

ABOUT THE EVANGELS: Mid-America Christian held off Wayland Baptist (Texas) 95-85 on Saturday inside the Gaulke Activity Center in the NAIA Network game of the week. Jerrick Massenburge capped a 10-1 run with a bucket at the 1:21 mark to boost Mid-America Christian (12-3, 2-1 SAC).
Nick Tate, a 6-2 senior, accumulated 25 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Tate propels Mid-America with 17.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.29 steals a game. Massenburge, a 6-4 senior, had 21 points and six rebounds off the bench. Massenburge averages 13.0 points and 4.1 rebounds a game.
Mid-America Christian rose to 15th in the last NAIA top 25. The Evangels were picked to finish second in the conference in the preseason.

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.
Josh Gamblin came to Mid-America Christian following a stint as a graduate assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma. He spent two years as assistant coach at Southwestern Christian and 2011-12 as an intern video coordinator for the Los Angeles Clippers under Vinny Del Negro.

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: OCU athletics has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live and on-demand audio, stats and video of the Stars' games. Follow the game via live audio by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Andrew Himes calls the action, entering his fifth season as the voice of the Stars. Himes has been broadcasting OCU games for eight years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.
Mid-America Christian will provide live video that will be available by clicking here.

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Players Mentioned

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

#2 Jonathan Ellis: G; 5' 7"; Sophomore

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

Players Mentioned

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

#2 Jonathan Ellis
: 5' 7"; Sophomore
: G

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

Players Mentioned

#32 Dorion Gigger

#2 Jonathan Ellis

#1 Noel Allen

Players Mentioned

#32 Dorion Gigger

#2 Jonathan Ellis

#1 Noel Allen