3:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19
Drover Fieldhouse | Chickasha, Okla.
THE MATCHUP
• Oklahoma City University squares off with nationally ranked Science & Arts in a Sooner Athletic Conference men's basketball showdown
• Both teams wrap up the regular season Saturday. OCU owns the No. 3 seed for the conference tournament coming next week
• Science & Arts, ranked 10th in the NAIA, has taken the SAC regular-season title and top seed in the SAC Tournament
• All 12 league teams make the SAC Tournament. The tournament begins Feb. 22 with seeds 5-8 hosting and the top four seeds idle in the first round. The quarterfinals are set for Feb. 24 with the top four teams hosting the first-round winners
ABOUT THE STARS
• Oklahoma City held off Texas Wesleyan 83-77 on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. Ryan Birt and Kori Guest downed consecutive treys for the Stars (15-13, 14-7 SAC) in last two minutes to respond when the home team clipped OCU's lead to one point
• Birt, a 6-foot-2 senior from Plano, Texas, poured in 25 points to matched his career-best scoring output against Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on Jan. 27. Birt added four rebounds and two steals while nailing 5 of 9 3-point tries. Birt supplies OCU with 13.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.40 steals per contest this season
• Rashaun Coleman, a 6-foot junior from Houston, filled the stat sheet with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists. He has delivered 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.31 thefts a game
• Oklahoma City limits opponents to 29 percent 3-point shooting to rank 11th among the NAIA in 2021-22
• The Stars took the eighth spot in the preseason SAC coaches poll. OCU owns 13 SAC regular-season championships and 10 SAC Tournament titles. Oklahoma City has advanced to the NAIA Division I Championship Tournament 25 times all-time and has won six national championships in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007 and 2008
• OCU owns a 39-25 advantage in the overall series. Science & Arts won 93-75 on Jan. 15 at Abe Lemons Arena earlier this season. Coleman spearheaded the Stars with 22 points, seven rebounds and two steals
ABOUT THE DROVERS
• Science & Arts rolled to an 82-61 win over John Brown (Ark.) on Thursday in Chickasha, Okla. The Drovers (24-4, 19-2 SAC) became SAC regular-season champions for the second time ever and first time since 2000-01
• Cameron Hines, a 5-10 senior, had 28 points and four rebounds while hitting 5 of 9 3-point shots. Hines averages 17.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists a game while shooting 40.6 percent from 3-point range
• Science & Arts averages 42.9 rebounds a game as a team to rank seventh nationally
• The Drovers have the No. 10 spot in the latest NAIA top 25. OCU went 0-5 against ranked opponents this season until breaking through with a victory over ninth-ranked Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas) on Jan. 27
• Science & Arts was picked to finish second place in the SAC in the preseason
MEET THE COACHES
Mark Berokoff (first season with OCU)
• Mark Berokoff guided Randall to three national championships and a national runner-up finish in nine years as head coach of the Saints. Berokoff's record with Randall was 147-122. Randall regularly challenged SAC squads and defeated OCU twice during that time
• Berokoff coached five national player of the year honorees, 16 all-Americans, three national tournament outstanding player award winners and one scholar all-American with Randall. Berkoff was two-time national coach of the year
• Berokoff's coaching career includes experience on the high school, college and professional levels. His combined head-coaching record over 19 years in the college and prep ranks is 372-199
Chris Francis (seventh season at Science & Arts, 137-70)
• Has led the Drovers to four NAIA National Championship tournament appearances and two Sooner Athletic Conference tournament titles
• Directed Science & Arts to a quarterfinals appearance at 2018-19 NAIA Tournament, the deepest run for the school since winning the 2001-02 national title
• Played and started his collegiate coaching career at Rogers State
ON THE AIR
• Science & Arts will provide a live video stream of the game over the SAC Sports Network
• Oklahoma City University athletics will offer a live audio play-by-play broadcast of the game. Oklahoma City University athletics provides live and on-demand audio and video of its contests on OCU's BlueFrame platform
• Andrew Himes calls the action. Himes enters his 11th season as the voice of the Stars and has been broadcasting OCU basketball for 14 years starting on color commentary as an OCU student
• OCU has partnered with BlueFrame Technology to create the OCU Sports Network. To watch live video, fans can find the Stars' BlueFrame platform over the web on the SAC Network along with streaming apps for mobile devices (iOS and Android) and televisions including Amazon Fire Tablet, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. The app can be found and installed by searching for the SAC Network
