TULSA�€"Caleb Green (Tulsa, Okla.) led
all scorers with 21 points and moved into second place on the
Mid-Continent Conference�€™s career scoring list
as Oral Roberts University defeated Southern Utah, 79-57, Saturday
at Mabee Center. The Golden Eagles won for the 12th time
in their last 13 games and maintained their one-and-a-half game
lead on second-place Oakland.
Green
moved ahead of former Oakland star Mike Helms (2000-04) and now has
2,322 career points. Green trails UMKC�€™s
Michael Watson, who scored 2,488 points from 2000-04, by 167
points.
The
Golden Eagles (18-8, 10-1) won despite a shaky start. Southern Utah
(15-10, 5-5) led 16-11 on a layup by Swaney Cooper with 13:04
remaining in the first half before ORU got on track.
Green
hit a layup in traffic with 8:29 to go, knotting the score at
23-23. The lead changed hands twice more before the Golden Eagles
gained an advantage for good when Shawn
King�€™s (Bequia, St. Vincent) offensive
rebound and layup gave ORU a 27-26 edge with 6:22 to go.
A layup
by Green with 31 seconds before intermission gave ORU a 37-32
advantage, and the Golden Eagles settled for a 37-34 halftime
lead.
ORU
opened the second half with an 11-3 run, taking a 48-38 lead on a
Ken Tutt (Garland, Texas) layup with 15:25 to go.
After Steve Barnes scored a basket to stop the bleeding for
Southern Utah, the Golden Eagles held the Tunderbirds without a
field goal for nearly nine minutes, turning a 48-40 edge into a
69-43 lead.
The
lead swelled to as many as 28 points when Adam
Liberty (Oklahoma City, Okla.) drained a three-pointer to
make it 79-51 with 3:46 to play.
The
Golden Eagles shot 48.3 percent from the field, including 55.2
percent in the second half. ORU was 8-of-19 from three-point range
and 15-of-22 from the free throw line.
Southern Utah shot 45.5 percent from the field, but made just 14 of
28 free throws, and the league�€™s top
three-point shooting squad was only 3-for-10 from beyond the
arc.
ORU
forced 16 turnovers and out-rebounded the Thunderbirds, 38-28.
Green
was 7-of-13 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line, adding 11
rebounds and four assists to his game-high point total. The
double-double is the 60th of his career, and he has
scored in double figures in 55 consecutive games.
Moses Ehambe (Arlington, Texas) scored 16 points,
hitting 5-of-7 from long range, while Liberty and King each scored
10 points.
Barnes
led SUU with 14 points, and Justin Allen chipped in with 10.
The
Golden Eagles return to action when they host Centenary, 7:05 p.m.,
Thursday at Mabee Center.
--ORU--
