TULSA�€"It was a
"good news, bad news" day for ORU men's basketball on
Saturday.
After
dropping a
nationally televised home game to Utah State, the Golden Eagles
clinched the
2007 Mid-Continent Conference regular-season title outright and
the tournament
No. 1 seed by virtue of Oakland's 87-85 overtime loss at Southern
Utah. ORU is
also guaranteed of at least a berth in the NIT, giving the Golden
Eagles a
post-season invitation for third straight season.
But it
only partly
soothed the sting of losing on Senior Night.
Oral
Roberts University scored the game�€™s first 14
points and led by as many as 18 early in the first half, but Utah
State rallied for a 71-65 win in the EPNU
O�€™Reilly Bracket Buster, Saturday at Mabee
Center.
Oral
Roberts (19-9) bolted to a 14-0 lead behind nine points by senior
forward Caleb Green (Tulsa, Okla.), and led 22-4
on a Moses Ehambe (Arlington, Texas) 3-pointer
with 12:27 remaining.
But
Utah State (20-7) switched into a smothering zone defense and
started making shots. After Ehambe�€™s trey, the
Golden Eagles made just two of their next nine shots as Utah State
climbed back into the game. A layup by Kris Clark trimmed
ORU�€™s lead to 27-19 with 6:45 before
halftime.
A
driving layup by Adam Liberty (Oklahoma City,
Okla.) temporarily stopped the bleeding for ORU and made it 29-19
with 6:23 left, but once again ORU went cold, missing its next nine
shots as the Aggies closed to within 29-26.
Green�€™s layup with 33 seconds left before the
break stopped ORU�€™s skid and made it 31-26, but
Arvydas Vaitiekus hit a layup with six seconds left to make it
31-28 at the break.
The
second half was all Utah State, as the Aggies shot 57.7 percent
from the field. After three lead changes and three ties in the
first 2:10, the Aggies took the lead for good when Stephen
DuCharme�€™s layup made it 37-35 with 17:26
left.
Utah
State gradually pushed the lead to eight points on a 3-pointer by
Jaycee Carroll with 7:52 to play to make it 54-46. ORU continued to
struggle with its shooting, and never got closer than five points
down the stretch.
Carroll
led all
scorers with 25 points, adding eight rebounds three assists and
three steals.
Peterson chipped in with 11 points.
Playing
their final home game at Mabee Center, Green and fellow senior
Ken Tutt (Garland, Texas) enjoyed solid
performances. Green scored 21 points, with nine rebounds and two
steals. Tutt added 16 points, but shot just 6-of-16 from the
field.
The
Golden Eagles return to Mid-Continent Conference action when they
visit IUPUI, 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 22.
--ORU--
