TULSA, Okla.-An 18-5 Oral Roberts run, spanning more than eight
minutes in the first half, was all the distance the Golden Eagles
(20-14) would need to push past the Anteaters of UC Irvine (21-16)
on Monday night in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com
Postseason Tournament at the Mabee Center.
The first four points of the game went to ORU and the Golden
Eagles never trailed in the game, winning their 10th
home game of the season and reaching 20 wins for the second year in
a row and the seventh time in the last nine years under Coach Scott
Sutton.
Led by another double-double from Steven
Roundtree, his third in the last four games, ORU shot 42
percent (26-61) for the game, including a sizzling 53 percent in
the first half as they opened up an 11-point lead at the break.
Roundtree had 21 points and 13 rebounds, along with a team high
four assists. Shawn
Glover added 16 points and Damen
Bell-Holter had 10. D.J.
Jackson posted an 11-point night, including eight in the first
half as he hit double figures for the first time since February 16
against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
UC Irvine got 15 points from Will Davis II, 13 from Michael
Wilder and 11 from Chris McNealy and finished the game at a 40
percent (24-60) shooting clip and turned the ball over 16 times,
converting to 20 ORU points. ORU had just 10 turnovers for the game
and out-rebounded the Anteaters 43-33.
The Golden Eagles hit just one of 12 3-point attempts for the
game, while UC Irvine connected on six treys on 17 attempts. ORU
made up the difference at the free throw line, hitting 23 of 30
attempts (76 percent), the second time in as many games and just
the fourth time this season in which ORU has gotten to the line at
least 30 times.
"I'm pleased with how we've played the last two games," said
Sutton. "We've played much better than we played most of the year
and I wish I had an explanation for that. I like where we are right
now. I thought the second half we got a little sloppy and got
careless defensively and probably got a little selfish when we got
the lead. Overall it's a good win and we move on."
Even though the outside game wasn't working in the first half,
with ORU starting the game 0-7 from 3-point range, the inside game
was on point and the first 12 points came from the trio of
Bell-Holter, Glover and Roundtree, 10 of those coming in the paint,
as ORU took a quick five point lead.
Getting a couple of layups on hustle plays, Jackson got in the
scoring column, forcing an Anteater timeout after increasing the
ORU lead to 16-7 midway through the first half. The Golden Eagles
would extend it to a 10-0 run and a 20-7 lead before a Michael
Wilder 3-pointer halted the run momentarily.
Jackson continued to play well offensively late in the half,
scoring on back-to-back jumpers to give ORU a 34-19 lead with a
minute to play. The last four points of the half belonged to the
Anteaters and ORU went into the locker room with a 34-23 lead.
The first six points and 10 of the first 12 of the second half
belonged to ORU and the Golden Eagles opened up a 19-point lead at
44-25 five minutes into the second half.
UCI made a run, and a Chris McNealy 3-pointer made it an
11-point game (56-45) with 7:33 to play, but four-straight by
Roundtree kept the Anteaters at a distance.
After Roundtree pushed it back to a 15-point lead, it never got
below 13 and the Golden Eagles cruised into the quarterfinals of
the CIT.
ORU will now travel to Weber State, playing the Wildcats for the
second time in just over a month after falling in an ESPN
BracketBuster matchup on February 23 at the Mabee Center in
Tulsa.
---www.ORUGoldenEagles.com---
