Jonathan Reed had his fourth double-figure scoring effort of the season Thursday.

Men's Basketball 2/17/2017 2:22:00 PM

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

St. Gregory's halted Stars' five-game win streak in series earlier this season

5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17
Don Sumner Fieldhouse in Shawnee, Okla.

THE MATCHUP: Oklahoma City University looks to pay back St. Gregory's for a loss earlier this season in a game with major implications for the Sooner Athletic Conference race.

ABOUT THE STARS: Oklahoma City fell 82-75 to USAO on Thursday night in Chickasha, Okla. The Stars (18-7, 9-6 SAC) went to a tie with Southwestern Christian and USAO at a game back from Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) and Texas Wesleyan in the SAC standings.
Xavier Smith, a 6-foot-9 senior from Richardson, Texas, spearheaded the Stars with 19 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. Smith posted his 13th double-double of the season. Smith records 15.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.48 blocks a game.
Jonathan Reed, a 5-7 junior from Powder Springs, Ga., accumulated 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Reed hit double-figure scoring for the fourth time this season. He provides the Stars with 6.8 points, 3.9 assists and 1.76 steals a game. Walter Rickett, a 6-2 junior from Dallas, had 13 points. Rickett averages 8.5 points and 3.2 rebounds a game.
OCU's 5.20 blocked shots a game rate second in the NAIA. To see how the Stars compare to the rest of the NAIA statistically, click here.
The Stars went to 19th in this week's national top 25. OCU has been picked to take second in the SAC according to the preseason coaches' poll. Oklahoma City owns six NAIA national championships won in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008 as well as 12 SAC regular-season titles.
OCU leads the overall series against St. Gregory's 37-4. St. Gregory's clipped the Stars 81-78 on Jan. 18 at Abe Lemons Arena. Tyler Alderman turned in a season-best 24 points.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: St. Gregory's dropped an 86-76 decision to Texas Wesleyan on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. St. Gregory's (9-13, 5-10 SAC) came up empty on a two-game stretch of away league games in Texas, also losing to Wayland Baptist (Texas).
Rodney Smith, a 6-foot senior, lifted St. Gregory's with 24 points, five rebounds and five assists. Smith posts 19.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Kilder Gonzalez, a 6-2 junior, had 17 points and 11 rebounds. Gonzalez averages 6.8 points and 3.9 rebounds a game.
St. Gregory's shoots 77.7 percent from the free-throw line to rank second in the NAIA. St. Gregory's check in at No. 9 in the SAC preseason poll.

ABOUT THE COACHES: Vinay Patel enters his second season as OCU head coach. In his first year, Oklahoma City finished 15-11 and tied for second in the Sooner Athletic conference. 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 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.
Dylan Lemley took over as St. Gregory's coach after spending last season as an assistant coach to John Martin, an OCU alum who became St. Gregory's athletic director. Lemley played for St. Gregory's for three seasons, picking up 2010-11 SAC freshman of the year. OCU alum Austin Ennis, who was on the Stars' 2008 national championship team, serves as Lemley's assistant.

HELP SMITH BECOME THE DARK HORSE DUNKER: Xavier Smith of Oklahoma City made the 16 finalists for the Dark Horse Dunker competition, and Smith needs your help to advance. Vote for Smith daily until noon Feb. 21 by going to darkhorsedunker.com. Learn more here.

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, YouTube and 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. Listen to the game live by visiting OCU's Stretch portal here. Andrew Himes serves as the play-by-play man. Himes, in his sixth season as the voice of the Stars, has been broadcasting OCU games for nine years starting on color commentary as an OCU student.
Watch or follow Saturday's game on live stats here.

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Players Mentioned

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

#4 Tyler Alderman: C; 6' 9"; Senior

#1 Walter Rickett: G; 6' 2"; Junior

#11 Xavier Smith: C; 6' 9"; Senior

Players Mentioned

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

#4 Tyler Alderman
: 6' 9"; Senior
: C

#1 Walter Rickett
: 6' 2"; Junior
: G

#11 Xavier Smith
: 6' 9"; Senior
: C