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The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 92 – North Dakota State 69
Record: ORU (16-4, 7-0) – NDSU (8-12, 5-3)
Location: Fargo, North Dakota (Scheels Center)
 
FARGO, N.D. – The Oral Roberts men's basketball team took care of North Dakota State Thursday evening with a 92-69 victory over the Bison in Fargo, North Dakota.
 
The 23 point difference was the largest margin of victory for Oral Roberts over North Dakota State in program history and the largest win ever in Fargo. Max Abmas led all scorers with 22 points as five Golden Eagles had double-digit outings.
 
It was a track meet in the first half as both ORU and NDSU shot better than 50 percent from the field. The Golden Eagles jumped out first leading by as much as five just six minutes into the game. The Bison then went on a 9-0 run to go up by four, two minutes later. With 7:49 to go in the opening half, NDSU led by as much as six, but a 9-3 rally by ORU tied the game with five minutes left. The Golden Eagles would never give up the lead again. ORU closed out the first half on a 19-8 run to lead 52-47 at the break. NDSU's Grant Nelson led all scorers in the first with 19 points.
 
The Golden Eagle defense turned it on in the second half holding NDSU's Nelson to just two points. ORU jumped out of the gate quickly hitting three triples in a row, followed by a pair of free-throws by Abmas, for an 11-0 run to start the second. The Bison would not go away quietly as the pride of Fargo would pull to within seven with 9:19 on the clock. Another run for ORU, this time 12-0, would put the Golden Eagles up by 19 with 6:43 to play. Down the stretch, Oral Roberts would lead by as much as 26 before ending it with a 92-69 final score. In the final 10 minutes of action, the Golden Eagles out-scored the Bison 27-11.
 
Issac McBride had a season high 21 points on the night. Connor Vanover scored 15 followed by DeShang Weaver with 12 and Carlos Jurgens with 10. Combined the Golden Eagles out-scored NDSU 61-30 in the last 27 minutes of the game to earn the fourth program win in Fargo.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Abmas had 22 and Carlos Jurgens pulled down nine rebounds.

North Dakota State: Grant Nelson captured 21 points and Tajavis Miller grabbed eight rebounds.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot 43.8 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 57.1 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 18 assists on 36 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 38 points in the paint and 18 bench points.

- ORU forced NDSU to 13 turnovers and scored 17 points off those takeaways.

News and Notes

- Abmas has scored 2,233 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 369 three-pointer made making him second all-time in ORU history in that category.

- McBride captured a season high 21 points. Jurgens tied his season high with nine rebounds.
 
- Vanover has 64 blocks on the season and is second the nation in total blocks and in blocks per game.

- The Golden Eagles improved to 7-0 in Summit League play for the first time since 2011-12. ORU now has a minimum of a two game lead over everyone in the conference standings.
 
- ORU is one win shy of its 1,000^th overall program win.  

Up Next
The Golden Eagles continues its trip up north with a matchup against North Dakota Saturday, January, 21 at 1 p.m. in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
 
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.