OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City Stars men's basketball team will continue to stay on the road with a Sooner Athletic Conference matchup at Langston who comes in ranked third in the country. 

Game Information 

• Oklahoma City Stars (2-4, 0-1 SAC)
• Langston Lions (5-0, 0-0 SAC)
• Date & Time: Thursday, Nov. 30, 7:45 PM
• Location: C.F. Gayles Field House
• Live Coverage: Radio | Live Stats | TV

About the Stars

• Oklahoma City enters after dropping its conference opener to John Brown on Tuesday, 91-73. 
• The Stars biggest win so far comes by way of defeating number 15 The Master's University in the Abe Lemons Classic back in early November. 
• OCU is led in scoring by the lone senior on this squad Brandon Jackson who is averaging 19 PPG, 6.0 RPG, while shooting a 43% clip from three. Jackson has been far and away the team's top free throw shooter seeing only one miss from the line going 29-30 through six games and maintaining a streak of 28 makes in a row that came to an end on Tuesday night. 
• Last year's freshman of the year Avery Jackson leads the Stars in minutes played averaging 33.7 a game and follows Brandon Jackson in scoring going for 18.7 PPG. Jackson saw his top performance of this young season come against Ottawa (Ariz.) with a 25-point performance while going 11-11 from the charity stripe. 
• Oklahoma City carries a young team into the 2023-24 season as four freshmen are getting 13.0 MPG or more which includes James Cloud, Clayton Jewell, Beau Tranter, and Yorgio Golesis who has been in the starting lineup in the past two games.

• Langston enters Thursday's contest ranked third in the country with a perfect 5-0 start. 
• The Lions are coming off an exceptional 2022-23 season by going 31-3 and winning the conference before falling in the Round of 16 to Georgetown College. 
• Langston opens up its Sooner Athletic Conference Schedule on Thursday after going through a non-conference schedule with close battles against William Woods (W, 79-72) and Bellevue College (W, 69-64). 
• The Lions had a large roster turnover from last season and brought in a load of transfers to help carry on the recent success. Langston is currently led by New Mexico State transfer Anthony Roy at 14.0 PPG and 4.8 RPG. Sam Houston State transfer Ronald Mitchell follows Roy at 12.8 PPG. 
• Senior D'Monte Brown returns for his second season with the Lions and leads the team with 6.4 RPG while averaging 10.8 PPG. 

• Mark Berokoff (3rd Season) 
  • Mark Berokoff is in his third season at the helm for the Stars coming off a 17-13 in the 2022-23 season while finishing third overall in the Sooner Athletic Conference. Berokoff, previously a three-time national champion at Randall University holds a 36-31 overall record at Oklahoma City
  • Before Randall, Berokoff served as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech, Texas State, and Hill College. Berokoff contributed to one of Louisiana Tech's finest seasons with a 24-11 record and a berth in the College Insider Tournament quarterfinals.
  • At the high school level, Berokoff had a career record of 225-77 in 10 years of coaching, including winning the California Interscholastic Federation Championship. He also was involved with the Los Angeles Rockfish AAU team where he coached more than 50 future Division I players.
  • In 2005, he became the vice president of operations and head coach of the Lincoln Generals in the All-American Professional Basketball League (AAPBL). Other highlights include coaching at the prestigious ABCD Camp led by legendary Sonny Vaccaro and helping establish the 1Dream Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides educational opportunities for foreign athletes.

• Chris Wright (2nd Season)
  • Chris Wright returns for his second season as the Head of Men's Basketball at Langston University. After inheriting a program that went 1-27, Wright engineered the single biggest turnaround in the history of college basketball. The Lions finished the season at 31-3 overall and climbed to No. 3 in the national polls. The program became the first ever HBCU to win the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season crown along with capturing the SAC Conference Tournament Championship. The Lions advanced to the NAIA Sweet 16 in Kansas City before falling to Georgetown College.
  • Before arriving at Langston, Wright spent four years at Talladega College as the Head Coach, building the Tornadoes into a perennial national power. Wright's teams compiled a 106-25 record and reached the NAIA National Tournament in all four seasons. The 2021-2022 season saw Talladega College ranked as high as number two in the country and become the first HBCU to play for an NAIA National Championship in over 35 years. Dega finished the season 32-6 and fell in the national title game to conference foe Loyola University New Orleans. 

• The Stars hold an 8-6 advantage in the history of this matchup, dating back to 2012.
• Langston swept the season series last year with a 62-55 win on the Lions home floor before taking down OCU 72-67 in Edmond, Okla., OCU's home away from home due to the water damage Abe Lemons Arena suffered through last year. 

What's Next

• Oklahoma City continues SAC play on Saturday afternoon to face Central Christian at 3:45 PM inside Abe Lemons Arena.