Box Score
TULSA, Okla.-Oral Roberts (1-1) put the clamps on defensively
and held St. Gregory's (1-1) without a basket for more than 10
minutes, easing to a 90-41 victory Wednesday night at the Mabee
Center.
Warren
Niles hit 11-of-12 from the field and 7-of-8 from behind the
arc to lead all scorers with 29 points in 24 minutes of action.
With his performance, Niles tied his career high with seven treys,
and moved from seventh to fifth on the career 3-point list with 207
made.
"Warren is a terrific shooter," said Head Coach Scott
Sutton. "I thought he only took one questionable shot, and
passed up four or five shots that he should have shot. We have been
stressing to the guys to share the ball, take good shots and not
being selfish and I think that was in the back of his mind."
Shawn
Glover added: "He (Niles) does that every day in practice. He's
a great shooter, one of the best I've ever seen and it is a luxury
to have him on my team."
The blowout victory allowed for plenty of career highs,
including career scoring nights from D.J.
Jackson (11), Corbin
Byford (8), as well as Brandon
Conley and Korey
Billbury, each of whom had six points. Jackson also had a
team-high five assists on the night.
ORU shot 56 percent (32-57) for the game, including 18-30 (60
percent) in the first half, and allowed just 17 second-half points
on a 5-of-23 shooting effort by the Cavaliers.
"I'm pleased with how we responded," said Sutton. "I thought
they tried to defend like we need to every game. This was an
important game for our young players to get some experience. I
thought it was good for Jordan and Corbin and Brandon to get in and
play extended minutes. I thought all of them did a good job and I
thought D.J. came in and played really well."
Fayzon Richey led the way for St. Gregory's as the only
double-figure scorer, dropping in 21 points, 14 of which came in
the first half.
Like he did in the first game of the season, Niles hit four
early 3-pointers to account for the majority of the scoring early
as he and Richey battled back and forth. Each had more than half of
their team's points 15 minutes into the game after Niles hit
back-to-back treys to put ORU up 32-21.
After a Devonte Young 3-pointer, ORU went back to work and
scored the final 16 points of the half to take a 48-24 lead into
the locker room. The Golden Eagles did not let down out of halftime
and scored the first seven points of the second half. It was not
until 2:04 into the second half that SGU was able to score points,
getting a layup by Richey, the Cavaliers' first basket since the
8:13 mark in the first half, a stretch of 10:17.
With just the Richey layup on the scoreboard, it was a 29-2 run
over 9:16 to make it 61-26 in favor of the Golden Eagles. ORU
stretched it to as much as 51 point lead in the largest victory
since besting Panhandle State 91-41 on November 25, 2006.
A week-long road trip is up next for the Golden Eagles as they
face Pacific at 9 p.m. (CT) in Stockton, Calif., on November 19
before heading north to the Great Alaska Shootout where they will
face Loyola Marymount in an 8 p.m. (CT) tip off on November 22.
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