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The Basics
Score: (RV) Oral Roberts 73 – North Dakota 70
Record: ORU (24-4, 15-0) – UND (10-18, 4-11)
Location: Tulsa, Okla. (Mabee Center)
 
TULSA, Okla. – For the first time since 2011-12, the Oral Roberts men's basketball has won the Summit League regular season championship outright with a 73-70 victory Thursday evening over North Dakota.
 
In front of a crowd of 7,492, Oral Roberts hoisted the Summit League regular season championship trophy high inside the Mabee Center. It's the first regular season championship for the program since 2011-12 as ORU improved to 15-0 in league play making it the best start in conference play in program history. It was also the 15^th consecutive home win of the season as the Golden Eagles, tying the most in a season since 2011-12. Head Coach Paul Mills also reached the coaching milestone of 100 wins Thursday evening. Oral Roberts extended its winning streak to 11, the nation's second longest winning streak.
 
ORU started out hot in the first half. The Golden Eagles took the lead from the start and never gave it up. The first double-digit lead came just six minutes in with a layup by Max Abmas. Abmas led all scorers with 19 points on the night. A 9-0 ORU run later in the half extended the lead to 16. The Golden Eagles closed out the first half on a 10-3 run to lead, 49-27, at the break. Issac McBride hit a three-pointer with seconds left to put his team up by 22. The Golden Eagles shot 64.5 percent from the field in the first going 20-for-31. Abmas had 13 and Carlos Jurgens added 12.
 
The second half ORU led by as much as 27 with 17:08 to go. The Fighting Hawks wouldn't go away and sparked a 15-2 run to pull to within 14 with 12:50 to play. North Dakota continued on with the run to push it to 21-4 to make it a 10 point game with 10 minutes left. With 7:47, UND cut it to seven with the run going to 28-8 as the Fighting Hawks made tough shots including eight consecutive three-pointers down the stretch. However, the Golden Eagle defense would hold. UND would get as close as one with 4:50 to play. Oral Roberts only allowed three points in the final five minutes of play holding off the North Dakota rally to win 73-70 to clinch the regular season title, it's seventh in program history.
 
Abmas ended the night with 19 followed by Jurgens with 14 and McBride with 12. The Golden Eagles have now won 21 of their last 22. Oral Roberts improves to 24-4 on the season, its best start since 1989-90 all-time. In the Division One era, it's the best start to a season dating back to 1971-72. ORU is 15-0 in Summit League play and is one of two (Eastern Washington) teams nationally still undefeated in conference play. Abmas also hit his 400^th career three-pointer making him the second player in ORU history to do so.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Abmas scored 19 points and Connor Vanover nine rebounds.

North Dakota: Treysen Eaglestaff captured 15 points and Tsotne Tsartsidze grabbed 12 rebounds.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot 30 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 50 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 13 assists on 30 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 46 points in the paint and 14 bench points.

- ORU forced UND to 11 turnovers and scored 13 points off those takeaways.

News and Notes
- Abmas has scored 2,430 career points which puts him 4^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 401 three-pointer made making him second all-time in ORU history in that category. He is No. 1 all-time in the Summit League in three-pointers made.

- For Abmas, it was his 15^th-straight double-digit game. He moved to 4^th all-time in points scored in the Summit League record book.

- Vanover has 91 blocks on the season and is second the nation in total blocks and in blocks per game.

- The 15 league wins ties for the most conference wins since the 2011-12 season.

- The 24 overall wins are the most wins for the program since the 2011-12 season.
 
- It's the eighth time in program history the team has won 24 or more games.
 
- The Golden Eagles are one of two teams in the nation (Eastern Washington) to remain undefeated in conference play.
 
- Head Coach Paul Mills claimed his 100^th career win and has an all-time record of 100-83.   

Up Next
ORU will play its final home game of the 2022-23 season Saturday, February 18 at 7 p.m. inside the Mabee Center on Senior Night. 

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.