TULSA—Marcus Lewis (Long Beach, Calif.) scored a team-high 18 points and Oral Roberts University withstood an outstanding individual performance by Southern Utah's Geoff Payne for a 71-62 Summit League victory, Tuesday at Mabee Center.

Lewis was 6-of-10 from the field and 6-of-10 from the free throw line, also grabbing six rebounds in 27 minutes to help ORU maintain its hold on first place. The win improves the Golden Eagles to 19-6 overall and 14-1 in League play.

Payne, however, almost single-handedly willed the Thunderbirds (8-18, 6-9) to their fourth straight victory. The junior forward scored 35 points on 13-of-18 shooting and 9-of-12 from the line, while grabbing 15 rebounds. But he didn't get much help from his teammates as the rest of the T-Birds shot just 33 percent (11-33) from the field and combined to score 27 points.

Southern Utah took control of the game early, bolting to a 10-4 lead behind six quick points from Payne. But the Golden Eagles responded with a 17-0 run, taking a 21-10 lead on a dunk by Moses Ehambe (Arlington, Texas) with 9:44 left in the half.

ORU extended the lead to 12 points at 31-19 on a pair of free throws by Kelvin Sango (Tulsa, Okla.) with 4:04 to go, but Southern Utah answered with eight straight points, pulling within 31-27 on a jumper by Dave Marek with 2:42 before halftime.

A three-point play by Lewis and a breakaway layup by Robert Jarvis (Humble, Texas) just before the horn gave ORU a 36-29 lead at the break.

The Golden Eagles quickly pushed the lead back to double figures in the early moments of the second half when a pair of free throws by Lewis and a layup by Shawn King (Bequia, St. Vincent) made it 40-29 with 18:57 left, but Payne and the Thunderbirds didn't go away.

Three straight buckets by Payne made it 40-34 with 17:47 to go, but back-to-back baskets by Lewis and Ehambe put ORU back up by 10 at 44-34 with 16:52 to play.

ORU's advantage stayed between 8-11 points over the next 11 minutes until Payne's teammates finally stepped up. A layup by Chris Hoopes trimmed ORU's lead to 56-49 with 5:46 left, and three straight points by Payne pulled SUU within 57-52 with 4:35 to go.

Back-to-back baskets by Marek and Tyler Quinney trimmed ORU's advantage to four points at 60-56 with 3:40 remaining. The T-Birds got as close as four points three more times, including 66-62 with 42 seconds left, before the Golden Eagles finally got some breathing room on three straight free throws by Ehambe and a dunk by King in the final 30 seconds sealed the win.

ORU shot 45.1 percent from the field, but was just 3-of-13 from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles won the game at the free throw line, going 22-of-32 from the line, compared to 13-of-18 for the T-Birds.

Southern Utah shot 47.1 percent from the field and out-rebounded ORU, 35-28.

Jarvis, King and Liberty each scored 10 points for ORU, while Marek chipped in 13 points for the T-Birds.

ORU returns to action when they host Summit League foe UMKC, 7:05 p.m., Thursday at Mabee Center.

--ORU--