March 14, 2007

Kansas City, Mo. - No. 2 seed Oklahoma City University shot 56.3 percent from the field on its way to a 90-74 victory against Wiley College (Texas) Wednesday in the opening round of the 2007 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship at Municipal Auditorium.

 

Junior forward Willie Irick led the way with a game-high 24 points off the bench as the Stars won a first-round game at the NAIA tournament for the fourth consecutive year. Oklahoma Baptist improves to 30-2 overall and will play Friday at 4:30 p.m. CDT in a second-round contest. The Stars will face either Lambuth University (Tenn.) or the University of Illinois at Springfield.

 

Oklahoma City led from start to finish, opening the contest on an 11-2 run. The Stars held a 49-38 lead at the half before Wiley made a run. The Wildcats reeled off eight consecutive points, the last two coming on a basket by junior forward Johnathan Coleman with 7:34 remaining, to bring Wiley within 69-63.

 

Irick then scored the next seven points of the game to help Oklahoma City regain a 76-63 advantage, and the Wildcats never came closer than 10 points the remainder of the contest.

 

Senior center B.J. Walker chipped in with 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Stars, while senior guard Nick Covington contributed 14 points. Junior guards Kameron Gray and Ricky Smith each posted 10 points for Oklahoma City, with Gray dishing out seven assists. Junior guard Ronald Taylor handed out a game-high eight assists for the Stars.

 

Junior guard Hector Garza led Wiley with 16 points, while junior forward Lael Johnson contributed 15 points in a reserve role. Junior forward Octavious Bailey scored 14 points for the Wildcats. Wiley, which had its season-high eight-game win streak snapped, closes its season with a record of 21-10.

 

- NAIA -