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The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 75 – (RV) New Mexico 82
Record: ORU (13-4, 4-0) – UNM (15-2, 2-2)
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico (The Pit)
 
ALBUQUERQUE – The Oral Roberts men's basketball team fell, 82-75, Monday evening at (RV) New Mexico inside The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
 
Known for its hostile crowd, The Pit proved tough with a crowd of 9,000-plus filling the seats as Oral Roberts stepped out of league play Monday evening. The Golden Eagles didn't shy away from the challenge as ORU led four times to silence the Lobos. Max Abmas continued to prove why he is one of the best players in college basketball as he led all scorers with 26 points. It was his ninth 20-plus point game of the season. Connor Vanover also shined with 18 points, his 11^th double-digit outing of the 2022-23 campaign.
 
Oral Roberts fell behind early to start the game as New Mexico went on a quick 6-0 burst. Vanover broke the run with a triple to put the Golden Eagles on the board. ORU was then able to tie the game, 11-11, just four minutes in. The Golden Eagles then led by three twice before UNM retook the lead and went on an 11-0 run to lead by 10 with five minutes left. A pull-up jumper by Abmas brought ORU to within five with less than a minute on the clock, but the Lobos were able to hit a three-pointer to make it a 43-35 game at the half. The home team shot 54.3 percent from the field in the first half, but Abmas and Vanover each scored in double-digits in the first 20 minutes with Abmas leading the team with 12.
 
New Mexico grabbed an early 10 point lead to start the second half. For the first 10 minutes, the two teams exchanged buckets as the Golden Eagles managed to pull to within seven, but trailed by as much as 11 in that stretch. The Lobos did put together an 8-0 run with 8:19 left that was highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers to lead by as much as 15. However, after a timeout, ORU managed a five point burst to pull back to within 10. UNM went back up by 11 with 4:51 to go, but it was their last double-digit lead of the night. Patrick Mwamba hit a three-ball to pull ORU to within eight. A stop on the defensive end led Mwamba to get a fast-break layup to bring the team to within six with 2:32 to play. The Golden Eagles would get as close as five, but free-throws at the end extended New Mexico's lead to 82-75 to close out the game. Abmas shot 50 percent in the second half and had 14 points.
 
The Golden Eagles out-scored the Lobos in the second half, 40-39, and upped their shooting percentage to 42.3 percent overall on the night.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Abmas had 26 and Carlos Jurgens pulled down nine rebounds with seven being on the offensive glass.

New Mexico: Jamal Mashburn Jr. scored 24 points and Josiah Allick had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot 25 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 42.3 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 11 assists on 30 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 32 points in the paint and nine bench points.

- ORU forced UNM to 10 turnovers and scored 13 points off those takeaways.

News and Notes

- Abmas has scored 2,157 career points which puts him 5^th all-time in the ORU record book. He is the eighth player to record 2,000-plus points in ORU history. He's recorded 355 three-pointer made making him second all-time in ORU history in that category.

- Abmas has now hit a three-point shot in 100 games during his career.
 
- Vanover has 56 blocks on the season and is second the nation in total blocks and in blocks per game.

- The Golden Eagles snapped a 10 game win streak, the fifth longest in the nation.
 
- It was the third opponent of the season for ORU that was either in the AP Top 25 or receiving votes.

Up Next
ORU returns to the Mabee Center Thursday, January 12 to face the Western Illinois Leathernecks at 7 p.m. Fans can receive four (4) FREE tickets by clicking HERE and showing the graphic in the North Lobby of the arena the evening of the game.

For the latest information on ORU Men's Basketball, follow the Golden Eagles on Twitter and Instagram, or go to www.ORUAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the ORU Athletics app from the App Store or Google Play Store.