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EDMOND, Okla. - The 2024-25 regular season gets underway Sunday, Nov. 10 when Oklahoma Christian men's basketball welcomes Western Colorado from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to the Payne Athletic Center. Tip-off between the in-region foes is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

EAGLE OUTLOOK (0-0, 0-0 LSC)
Oklahoma Christian comes into this new season off its best campaign of the head coach Kendre Talley era with a 13-15 overall record, including a 10-12 conference stand. With a preseason conference ranking of 10th heading into this new season, OC will open the new campaign with the South Central Region Crossover as it has the last three years. During that time, the Eagles are 2-4 against Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opposition. 

Eagle fans will see a lot of new faces and some familiar faces from last season's best men's basketball team in the NCAA Division II era. After losing their top four scorers from last year's squad, coach Talley and his staff highlighted this year's class with former Oklahoma high school standout and Division I DePaul senior transfer Keyondre Young (Del City HS), former OC Eagle turned Division I North Alabama senior transfer Marco Foster and DI Lamar junior transfer Deiman Reyes.

Of Oklahoma Christian's returners, Nickolas Traylor, Tyrus Baynham and Bryce Kennedy will fill that veteran leadership role. Traylor played in every game for OC last season, while Baynham missed just one game. Kennedy saw the most starts of the veterans with 14 as he is the leading scorer on a points-per-game basis among the returners with 6.6 points. Kennedy, Baynham and Traylor each shot 47.7 percent or better from the floor, while Traylor was also third on the team among players with at least 30 free-throw attempts with a 78.8 free-throw percentage.

Sunday will be the first matchup between Oklahoma Christian and Western Colorado in 53 years. The two programs met in a neutral site contest in Chadron, Neb. on Dec. 30, 1971, which OC won, 81-74. Since 2013, the Eagles are 3-7 in non-conference season-openers, but have won each of their last two such games.

SCOUTING WESTERN COLORADO (0-0, 0-0 RMAC)
Off of an 11-17 and 8-14 conference campaign in 2023-24, Western Colorado enters this season slotted 11th in the 2024-25 RMAC Preseason Poll. Last year, WCU recorded its most season (11) and RMAC (8) wins since 2019-20. The Mountaineers are 1-2 against Lone Star Conference competition in season openers the last three seasons.

Head coach Zac Claus enters his second season as the Mountaineers' head coach as he returns eleven members of his squad with the addition of four. Highlighting the returners are Western Colorado's top three scorers from last season - senior Kade Juelfs (13 ppg), sophomore Tyler Halligan (8.2 ppg) and senior Amar Rivers (6.6 ppg) - as well as their top three rebounders - senior Jamel Hollins ( 101 - 5.3 rpg), junior Andrew Reichart (4.3 rpg), and Rivers (3.6 rpg).