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

Stars take to road for two-game stretch this week

8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21
Don Sumner Field House in Shawnee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University aims to snap its three-game losing streak against St. Gregory's on the road.

ABOUT THE STARS: Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) outlasted OCU 78-75 in overtime on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars (6-6, 3-3 SAC) fell in their first overtime contest of the season.
Terence Bonhomme, a 6-foot sophomore from St. Martinville, La., tallied 30 points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist. Bonhomme leads the Stars with 16.6 points a game and 2.0 steals a game, 11th in NAIA Division I men's basketball.
Noel Allen, a 6-6 senior from Guttenberg, N.J., grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, while adding six points and two assists. Allen records 8.0 points and 4.6 rebounds a contest. Evan White, a 6-4 senior from San Antonio, notched seven points, five rebounds, one assist and one block. White averages 7.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
The Stars collect 33.8 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 own the series lead at 35-3 against St. Gregory's. OCU overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat SGU 94-85 on Feb. 19, 2015 in Oklahoma City. White scored 17 points and shot 2-for-4 from behind the arc.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: St. Gregory's fell 105-96 to 15th-ranked Mid-America Christian on Jan. 16 in the Sumner Field House. MACU secured the win by hitting 12 of 14 free throws in the final 3:43 of play. The game featured 63 fouls and 86 free throws. SGU (7-7, 2-4 SAC) shot 38-of-48 from the charity line.
Richard Shields, a 6-3 senior, led the Cavaliers with 23 points and added six rebounds. Shields provides SGU with 17.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Stephen Walter, a 6-4 senior, recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while adding three assists, two steals and a block. Walter leads SGU in scoring with 19.5 points a game. The Cavaliers were picked to finish ninth 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.
John Martin is in his eighth year as the Cavalier men's basketball coach with a 75-142 overall record. In the 2013-14 season, Martin guided SGU to a program-best 24-10 record and a Fab Four appearance in the NAIA Division I Tournament. Prior to SGU, Martin was as a head coach at Moore High School and John Marshall High School. He served as an assistant at Carl Albert State College (Okla.), University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, Bishop McGuinness High School and Oklahoma City University. The OCU alum played on the 1994 national championship team and was a graduate assistant on the 1996 National Championship team.

QUOTABLE: "He's tough and he will do anything you ask of him. He'll run through a brick wall if you ask him to. I can go to battle with a kid like that any given night. That's one of the reasons why his play has increased, his minutes have increased and now he is in a starting role. He gives us an edge just because he will do the little things that we ask certain guys to do and he has proven that he is doing it more consistently than others." – Patel on Jonathan Reed

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.
St. Gregory's will provide live video that will be available by clicking here.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

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