Box Score
STOCKTON, Calif.-Oral Roberts got 56 of 69 points from three
starters, including late baskets by Warren
Niles as the Golden Eagles started a four-game road streak with
a 69-67 victory at Pacific late Monday night.
The Golden Eagles (2-1) led for more than 35 minutes of the game
but found themselves trailing late as Pacific (1-2) continued to
hit from beyond the arc, connecting on 10 3-pointers in the game,
and leading with less than four minutes to play.
"It was a great win," said Coach Scott
Sutton. "Any time you can go on the road and get a win this
early in the year it takes a terrific effort. I'm really proud of
our guys. I thought we played really well and built an 11-point
lead but we turned the ball over and let them back in it. When they
took a three-point lead I was really proud of how they responded. I
thought they overcame some adversity and I thought they grew up a
little bit tonight to fight back and win a tough basketball game.
I'm really proud of these guys. Warren made some big time plays,
Steven made some big time plays and Damen did as well. Your veteran
guys have to step up and make plays, especially on the road, and
they did that tonight."
Down one with 3:16 to go, ORU got a 3-pointer by Damen
Bell-Holter-his first of the season-and ORU would never trail
again. A Ross Rivera jumper tied the game for the eighth time, but
back-to-back baskets by Niles, part of his 26-point effort, iced
the game for ORU.
Niles scored 26-plus for the second game in a row after dropping
29 against St. Gregory's, while Steven
Roundtree added 19 points and Bell-Holter had his first
double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds, leading
ORU to a 36-22 rebounding advantage.
Lorenzo McCloud had 13 points to lead the Tigers, while Khalil
Kelley added 11 points. Including those two, the Tigers had seven
players score at least eight points in the game.
In addition to dominating the boards, ORU also held commanding
advantages in the paint (32-20) and second-chance points (10-4) but
were out-scored 26-3 off the bench.
Up by five early (13-8), the Golden Eagles got a couple of easy
steals with the full-court press and put the pressure on. A
three-ball by Niles gave ORU a 20-14 lead with 11:51 to go in the
first half.
ORU would push the lead back out one more to seven at the 6:40
mark, but back came Pacific as they cut it to a two point game at
26-24. More Pacific turnovers led to easy buckets on the other end
and the lead quickly swelled back to eight at 32-24.
Pacific went back to work and cut it to a three-point game, and
Tony Gill answered a Mikey
Manghum 3-pointer with one of his own to end the half, giving
ORU the 37-34 halftime lead.
The first eight points of the second half belonged to the Golden
Eagles as they extended the lead to 11 at 45-34. Just like the
first half, the Tigers would not go away and cut it down to a
two-point game (50-48) at the 11:30 mark in the second half, and
would go on to tie the game at 57-57 with seven minutes to
play.
With a 3-pointer from Trevin Harris, Pacific took its first lead
since 2-0 to start the game at 60-57 with 6:41 to go
ORU will stay on the road and head to Anchorage, Alaska, for
three games as part of the Great Alaska Shootout, beginning with an
8 p.m. (CT) tip-off against Loyola Marymount on Thursday, November
22.
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