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The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 87 – Western Illinois 63
Record: ORU (14-4, 5-0) – WIU (9-8, 2-4)
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma (Mabee Center)
 
TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts men's basketball team remained undefeated at home by extending its home game winning streak to 10 with an 87-63 win over Western Illinois Thursday evening at the Mabee Center.
 
Max Abmas recorded a season high 37 against the Leathernecks Thursday evening. Abmas went 12-for-16 overall from the field and tied his career high in three-pointers with seven. It was his four 30-plus point game of the season and 17^th of his career. Issac McBride also had a double-digit night with 11.
 
ORU trailed once early in the game, but after the 15:55 mark of the first half, the Golden Eagles never gave up the lead again. A 14-0 run gave ORU a 19-6 lead in the blink of an eye. The closest the Leathernecks would get would be nine with 10:39 left in the first, but after a pair of free-throws by Abmas, ORU would maintain its double-digit lead the rest of the way. Abmas sparked a 12-0 solo run hitting four three-pointers in a row to give the Golden Eagles a 22 point lead with 4:14 before halftime. ORU led 46-26 at the break as Abmas had 27 first half points. He went 9-for-12 from the field and 7-for-9 from long range.
 
Western Illinois came out in the second half and cut the deficit to pull to within 14, just seven minutes in. A few minutes later, ORU put together a 7-0 run to go back up by 22. Later in the half, Demari Williams came off the bench and hit a jumper with 4:56 to go to put ORU up by 26. Jake Shannon hit a triple with 2:07 to go to give the Golden Eagles their largest lead of the game at 28. Oral Roberts closed out the 87-63 game and advanced to 5-0 in Summit League play.
 
Twelve Golden Eagles saw action in Thursday's rout against Western Illinois and all 12 put points on the board. Defensively, it was third time in the five league games played that ORU has held a conference opponent to 63 points or less.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Abmas had 37 and Connor Vanover pulled down eight rebounds.

Western Illinois: Vuk Stevanic scored 12 points and Trenton Massner grabbed seven rebounds.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot 40.7 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 47.1 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 14 assists on 33 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 40 points in the paint and 29 bench points.

- ORU forced WIU to 12 turnovers and scored 13 points off those takeaways.

News and Notes

- Abmas has scored 2,194 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 362 three-pointer made making him second all-time in ORU history in that category.

- It was Abmas' fourth 30-plus point game of the season and 17^th of his career. His 37 points in the game is a season high. His seven three-pointers ties his career high.
 
- Vanover has 59 blocks on the season and is second the nation in total blocks and in blocks per game.

- The Golden Eagles are 10-0 at home and have the longest home winning streak since the 2011-12 season.
 
- ORU is three wins shy of its 1,000^th overall program win.  

Up Next
The Golden Eagles will challenge the St. Thomas Tommies Saturday, January 14 at 7 p.m. inside the Mabee Center.

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.