OCU in Mid-America Christian Classic men’s basketball preview

Stars put undefeated record on line at Mid-America Christian Classic

7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8
Gaulke Activity Center | Oklahoma City

STATS | VIDEO | AUDIO

7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10
Gaulke Activity Center | Oklahoma City

STATS | VIDEO | AUDIO

THE MATCHUP
• No. 12 Oklahoma City University (3-0) puts its undefeated record on the line against Northern New Mexico and Ecclesia (Ark.) in the Mid-America Christian Classic
• The Stars are riding a three-game winning streak, while Northern New Mexico enters Wednesday's contest on a four-game losing streak
• OCU head coach Vinay Patel has a chance to start 5-0 in back-to-back seasons

ABOUT THE STARS
• Oklahoma City edged past Southwestern Oklahoma State 84-82 on Saturday at Abe Lemons Arena. The Stars built a double-digit lead midway through the second half, but SWOSU battled back only to fall short in the final minute.
• Ridell Camidge, a 6-foot-4 senior from Wilmington, N.C., is coming off a red-hot shooting performance against SWOSU. Camidge drilled seven 3s in the victory and notched a game-high 29 points on 70 percent shooting from behind the arc.
• Terence Bonhomme, a 6-foot senior from St. Martinsville, La., turned in 19 points, six rebounds and two assists while shooting 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Bonhomme received Sooner Athletic Conference player of the week after averaging 28.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the week of Oct. 30-Nov. 5. He scored a career-high 38 points in OCU's 95-88 win at Langston on Wednesday.
• Samuel Williams, a 6-8 senior from Reno, Nev., leads the Stars in the frontcourt with 15.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. He produced 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and swatted two shots in Saturday's win over Southwestern
• OCU ranks 13th in the NAIA Division I in total blocks with 11. The Stars also rank 14th in offensive rebounds per game (15.3), and 15th in both total rebound offense (133) and total scoring offense (285).
• OCU has been slotted at No. 12 in the preseason NAIA Division I rankings. Oklahoma City has made 23 NAIA Division I Tournament appearances and won six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008.
• The Stars have been picked to finish second place in the Sooner Athletic Conference according to the preseason coaches poll. OCU owns 12 SAC regular-season titles and nine SAC Tournament crowns.

ABOUT THE EAGLES
• Northern New Mexico fell to University of the Southwest (N.M.) 94-96 on Monday. The Eagles (2-5) held a two-point lead with 54 seconds left, but allowed Southwest to score four straight and suffered their fourth consecutive loss as a result
• Bryce Simmons, a 6-foot sophomore from El Paso, Texas, leads Northern New Mexico in scoring with 16.4 points per game. Despite leading his team in the scoring column, Simmons was held to five points on 2-of-9 shooting in Monday's loss
• Eric Coca, a 6-foot sophomore from Santa Fe, N.M., tallied 21 points and snagged four rebounds against Southwest. He averaged 6.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists during the 2016-17 season.
• The Eagles rank second in NAIA Division II in total 3-point field goals made (53), total scoring offense (623) and total rebound offense (292)

ABOUT THE ROYALS
• Ecclesia comes off a 97-65 loss to John Brown (Ark.) on Saturday in Siloam Springs, Ark. The Royals allowed John Brown to shoot 56.5 percent from the field and at one point trailed by 37 points late in the second half
• Ecclesia faces Southwestern Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Bethany, Okla.
• Dequcelan Bagsby and Cash Krueger each gave Ecclesia 12 points in Saturday's loss. Bagsby, a 5-4 senior from Dallas, paced the Royals with 24 points and nine assists in their season opener against Williams Baptist (Ark.) on Oct. 30
• Ashton Worgu, a 6-3 junior from New Iberia, La., produced 10 points and seven rebounds against John Brown. Worgu averages 14.0 points and 8.0 rebounds for the Royals
• Through two games, Ecclesia is allowing opponents to score 104.0 total points and 49.0 points in the paint per game

MEET THE COACHES
Vinay Patel (39-22, third season with OCU)
• Patel has guided two OCU all-Americans, including the Stars' first first-teamer since 2008; the 2017 Sooner Athletic Conference player of the year, the 2017 SAC co-defensive player of the year, a finalist for the Dark Horse Dunker competition, six all-conference performers and three academic all-SAC choices
• Before coming to OCU, he spent one season as Rogers State's assistant coach and aided the Hillcats to a 20-8 season led by the conference player of the year
• Patel spent nine years as assistant before serving as the head coach 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

Ryan Cordova (66-118, seventh season with NNMC)
• Cordova was named 2015 Association of Independent Institutions' Coach of the Year after guiding his team to a 19-12 record
• In 2000 he worked for the New Mexico Slam, a Semi-Professional basketball team playing in the IBL. While at the Slam, he worked alongside coaches like John Whisenant, the former WNBA General Manager/Head Coach; as well as Rob Robbins, former UNM Lobo and Denver Nugget.
• Cordova also works as athletic director at Northern New Mexico College, and has kept the Eagles as a Champions of Character 5 Star Institution for six consecutive years

Al McCarron (13-16, second year with Ecclesia)
• Prior to joining the Royals, McCarron was an assistant at one-time SAC member Northwood University in Cedar Hill, Texas and the head fresh/soph. and assistant varsity coach at Neoga High School in Neoga, Illinois.
• While at Northwood, he helped double the win total in their second year of existence from 4 to 8, including a win over a top-10 A&M Commerce NCAA Division II team

FOLLOW THE STARS
• Mid-America Christian athletics provides live video and stats for all teams participating in this week's Mid-America Christian Classic.
• Andrew Himes will call the action via audio for OCU. Himes enters his seventh season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 10 years starting on color commentary as an OCU student
• Fans can access regular-season broadcasts from NAIA institutions as well as from NAIA Championships postseason contests via Stretch Internet through custom apps on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Users can search for "NAIA" on the app interfaces on any compatible device, and then download the free NAIA Network app

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Players Mentioned

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

Players Mentioned

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

Players Mentioned

#5 Terence Bonhomme

Players Mentioned

#5 Terence Bonhomme