Men's Basketball | 1/15/2016 5:41:00 PM
5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center
THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University challenges preseason Sooner Athletic Conference favorite Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas).
Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students, while OCU students, faculty and staff are allowed into all regular-season OCU athletics events for free with their ID. If the Stars score 70 points, fans will get a prize from Raising Cane's. For the OCU athletics visitors guide, click here.
ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City fell 92-78 on Thursday at Mid-America Christian, ranked 15th in NAIA Division I men's basketball. The Stars (6-5, 3-2 Sooner Athletic Conference) scored 44 points off the bench compared to the Evangels' 25 points but were outrebounded 47-28.
Lou Dunbar, a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Seabrook, Texas, sank five 3-pointers en route to leading the Stars with 21 points. Dunbar averages 11.5 points a game and shoots 43.8 percent from behind the arc.
Evan White, a 6-4 senior from San Antonio, notched 17 points and led the team in rebounds with five. White scores 8.0 points a game and grabs 3.3 boards a game. Jonathan Reed, a sophomore from Powder Springs, Ga., recorded a career-high 13 points with three assists and two steals. Reed records 6.4 points and 2.94 assists per contest.
OCU pulls in 34.55 defensive rebounds to rank 21st in NAIA Division I led by Dorion Gigger's 6.7 per game to rank 11th. To see how OCU ranks statistically in the NAIA, click here.
The Stars have been slotted to take sixth in the SAC according to the preseason coaches poll. Oklahoma City has won or shared the SAC regular-season championship 12 times, most recently in 2007-08. Oklahoma City owns six NAIA national championships won in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
The all-time series between OCU and SAGU is tied at 2-2. The Stars defeated the Lions 82-78 on Feb. 26, 2015 in Waxahachie, Texas. OCU secured the win with a pair of free throws, while the Lions missed game-tying free throws with five seconds left in the game.
ABOUT THE LIONS: Southwestern Assemblies of God topped St. Gregory's 71-64 on Thursday in Waxahachie, Texas. SAGU improved to 13-4 overall and sit atop the SAC at 4-1.
Jason Gentry, a 6-foot senior, compiled 19 points and eight rebounds. Gentry averages 9.8 points and 4.3 rebounds a game. Isaak Rowe, a 6-6 freshman, led the team in rebounds with 11, while notching 18 points, two steals and two blocks. Rowe tallies 11.1 points and 5.6 rebounds a game.
SAGU stayed at 18th in the latest NAIA rankings. The Lions are the top team among NAIA schools in steals per game (11.24) and total steals (191). Southwestern Assemblies of God was projected to finish atop the conference in the SAC preseason 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.
Donnie Bostwick enters his sixth year as the Lions head basketball coach with an overall record of 131-59. In 2013-14, the Lions were the regular-season champions in their first season in the SAC. Bostwick led SAGU to a regular-season championship in their last season in the Red River Conference in 2012-13 with a 33-5 record. Bostwick received the SAC coach of the year award and the National Christian College Athletic Association coach of the year award in 2014. He served as a court coach during the 2015 USA Basketball Men's U19 National Team training camp.
QUOTABLE: "We got crushed on the glass, and you're just not going to be able to win basketball games when you get outrebounded by that big of a margin. We will have to regroup in a hurry and try to prepare for another very good team Saturday." – Patel after Thursday's loss to Mid-America Christian
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, stats and video by visiting OCU's Stretch portal by clicking here. Cost to watch the game is $7.95 per game, $29.95 to see all 2015-16 home games and $79.95 to watch all of OCU's action in every sport in 2015-16.
Andrew Himes calls the action. Himes, in his fifth season as the voice of the Stars, has been broadcasting OCU games for eight years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.
