Jordan Mason reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time this season Thursday.

Men's Basketball 2/15/2016 1:36:00 PM

OCU vs. Southwestern Christian men's basketball preview

Contest matches teams tied at 8-5 in Sooner Athletic Conference

8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15
Abe Lemons Arena inside the Freede Center

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University collides with Southwestern Christian in a contest featuring teams tied at 3.5 games out of first place in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
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: Wayland Baptist (Texas) handed Oklahoma City an 86-76 setback Thursday in Plainview, Texas. OCU (11-8, 8-5 SAC) went to 6-2 in SAC away games this season.
Evan White, a 6-foot-4 senior from San Antonio, accrued 19 points and four rebounds while shooting 4-for-8 from 3-point range. White contributes 7.5 points and 3.1 rebounds a contest while hitting 34.2 percent from 3-point territory.
Dorion Gigger, a 6-5 junior from Oklahoma City, posted his team-high seventh double-double of the season with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four steals. Gigger adds 11.0 points and 9.1 rebounds a game to go with a 55.6 percent field-goal percentage. Jordan Mason, a 6-2 junior from Ennis, Texas, had 12 points, four rebounds and two assists. Mason averages 5.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per contest.
The Stars accumulate 13.2 offensive rebounds a game to rate 17th nationally, while Terence Bonhomme's 85.9 percent free-throw percentage ranks ninth among the NAIA. To see how OCU compares statistically to the rest of the NAIA, click here.
OCU at 23rd is among three SAC squads in the rankings. 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 Stars took a 3-2 lead in their all-time series against Southwestern Christian with a 77-72 win Dec. 5 in Bethany, Okla. Gigger registered a career-high 26 points.

ABOUT THE EAGLES: Southwestern Christian defeated St. Gregory's 72-57 on Thursday in Bethany, Okla. Southwestern Christian (12-10, 8-5 SAC) has surpassed its conference win total from the previous two seasons (five).
Gabi Laurent, a 6-5 senior, produced 17 points and seven rebounds. Laurent collects 10.8 points and 5.6 rebounds a game. Marvin White, a 6-2 junior, had 15 points and five rebounds off the bench. White averages 18.9 points and 4.8 rebounds a game.
Southwestern Christian's 41.7 percent field-goal percentage ranks 22nd in the NAIA. SAC coaches picked Southwestern Christian to take eighth in the league.

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.
Dave Bliss enters his first season as Southwestern Christian head coach after leading Bryan Allen Academy (Texas) to the Class 2A Texas Christian Athletic League state championship in each of the past five years. Bliss' collegiate coaching experience began under Bob Knight at Army and Indiana before accepting his first head-coaching position at University of Oklahoma in 1975. In Bliss' 40 years of collegiate coaching experience including stops at Oklahoma, Southern Methodist, New Mexico and Baylor, he has compiled a record of 538-338 with four conference regular-season titles, one league tournament crown, five National Invitational Tournament bids and eight NCAA Tournament appearances.

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.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#24 Jordan Mason: G; 6' 2"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

#24 Jordan Mason
: 6' 2"; Junior
: G