Box Score | Season Stats | 2019-20 Schedule
The Basics
2020 Summit League Championship Quarterfinals
Score: No. 5 Omaha 52 – No. 4 Oral Roberts 79
Record: UNO (16-16) – ORU (17-13)
Location: Sioux Falls, S.D. (Denny Sanford PREMIER Center)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A dominant second half powered the No. 4 seed Oral Roberts men's basketball team to decisive, 79-52 victory over No. 5 Omaha Sunday night inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in The Summit League Championship Quarterfinals.
Max Abmas connected on 5-of-7 3-point tries in the second stanza, including each of his final four, as the freshman posted 17 of his game-high 20 points helping the Golden Eagles out-score the Mavericks by a 24-point margin in the second half, 52-28.
Abmas knocked down a triple in transition capping a 9-0 run for ORU turning a two-point deficit into a 16-11 advantage covering a 3:30 stretch early in the contest. Omaha fought back to get within one on two occasions, but the Golden Eagles were relentless on both sides of the court pushing their lead to 25-20 on a pair of Kevin Obanor free throws.
Emmanuel Nzekwesi beat the buzzer of the opening half catching a half-court lob from Deondre Burns and spun around the Omaha defender scoring at the rim putting the Golden Eagles in front, 27-24, at the break. The basket stopped a more than four-minute drought by ORU as the No. 4 seed never allowed the Mavericks to pull even.
Nzekwesi posted the first two points of the second half and R.J. Fuqua followed by hitting two free throws as the Golden Eagles moved back in front by seven, 31-24. Three-point baskets on back-to-back possessions from Francis Lacis and Abmas helped ORU stretch its advantage into double digits, 39-28, as the 5-0 spurt was finished as Burns scored at the rim on an Omaha turnover.
Obanor took over the paint attacking the Mavericks defense scoring at the rim pushing ORU back in front by 11 and an acrobatic finish at the rim by Fuqua forced Omaha into a timeout as the margin swelled to 47-34. After a defensive stop, Burns sprinted up the court and drilled a pull-up jumper as the Golden Eagles led by 15.
Omaha closed the gap to 10 before the ORU offense took over out-scoring the Mavericks by a 23-5 margin over a nearly six-minute stretch to secure its first conference tournament win since 2015, 79-52.
Turning Point
The Golden Eagles held a double-digit advantage, 58-45, until Abmas caught fire hitting four-straight from downtown to bury the Mavericks as the lead moved to 28 points scoring 12 of the team's points in the 17-2 run.
Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Abmas reached the 20-point mark for the ninth time this season leading the Golden Eagles in scoring as he tied his career best hitting six 3-pointers.
Omaha: KJ Robinson led the Mavericks scoring 15 points, while JT Gibson added 14. Matt Pile matched a tournament record grabbing 21 rebounds, 17 of which came in the first half.
Inside the Box Score
- Abmas would not be denied down the stretch as he drained his final four attempts from distance finishing with a game-high 20 points. The freshman moved into seventh on the ORU single-season list for 3-pointers made as he currently has 87 on the year.
- Obanor put together a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double effort recording his seventh of the season battling his way in the paint taking advantage of his matchup.
- Burns was electric from start to finish totaling 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting and joined Fuqua for the team lead with six assists as the Golden Eagles tallied 18 total assists compared to just five for Omaha.
- Nzekwesi finished one rebound shy of a double-double as the redshirt senior finished with 13 points and nine rebounds playing just 11 minutes of the second half.
- Fuqua delivered some clutch shots in the second half and posted an all-around performance of nine points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals without committing a turnover.
News and Notes
- ORU won its first Summit League tournament game since 2015, having dropped its previous four, and improved to 22-16 in the tournament overall and 13-6 in the quarterfinals.
- The Golden Eagles held a 36-20 margin in points in the paint and forced Omaha into 17 turnovers, while turning the ball over just seven times.
- The 27-point win matched a Summit League record for largest margin of victory in a No. 4 versus No. 5 game in tournament history.
Up Next
ORU continues its #March2TheSummit Monday night as it takes on defending tournament champion and top seed North Dakota State at 6 p.m. live on ESPN+ in The Summit League Championship Semifinals.
For the latest information on ORU men's basketball, follow @ORUMBB on Twitter or Instagram, or go to www.ORUAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the ORU Athletics Front Row App at ORUAthletics.com/frontrow or the ORU Golden Eagles Live App in iTunes or the Google Play Store. For tickets, visit mabeecenter.com or call 495-7ORU (7678).
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