Box Score | Season Stats | 2023-24 Schedule
 
The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 84 – South Dakota 66
Record: ORU (8-8, 2-1) – USD (8-10, 1-2)
Location: Tulsa, Okla. (Mabee Center)
 
TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts men's basketball team won its 10th-straight home conference game Thursday evening after defeating South Dakota, 84-66, at the Mabee Center to improve to 2-1 in Summit League action.
 
Another hot shooting night for the Golden Eagles led four scoring in double figures for the second-straight game. Issac McBride had 21 points on the night giving him his ninth 20-plus point game of the season and back-to-back games with 20 or more. Kareem Thompson recorded his second double-double of the season with his ninth-straight double-digit outing.
 
For the third-straight game, Sir Issac Herron scored in the opening possession to give ORU an early lead. After USD scored on its first possession, Jailen Bedford got things going for ORU with a steal and dunk. Bedford sparked a 15-0 ORU run to lead by 15 with 12:55 on the clock. The run was extended to 16-2 as ORU would lead by as much as 16 twice. As the Golden Eagles led 29-13 with 9:44 to go, South Dakota went on a 20-2 run to take a two-point lead, 33-31 with 2:09 until halftime. McBride scored to tie game back and stop the run. After a defensive stop, McBride scored again to go on a 7-0 run himself with three-straight buckets and a free-throw. Bedford hit two free-throws to extend ORU's run to 9-0 to close out first half with a 40-33 lead. DeShang Weaver led ORU with eight first half points as ORU shot 41.7 percent from the field. The Golden Eagles held USD scoreless for the last two and a half minutes of the first.
 
Herron started the second half with a jumper to extend run to 11-0 that ORU would make to 13-0 to go up by as much as 11 early in the second. South Dakota was able to cut the lead down to four with 16:43 left in the game. The Coyotes would only get as close as two points four times on four-straight possessions with the last one coming with 10:54 on the clock. When ORU needed a bucket to try and spark a run, Thompson hit a three to put ORU up by 5. After a defensive stop, Josh Jones scored next possession to give ORU a seven-point lead. With 5:40 to go, ORU would take a double-digit lead and didn't look back as the Golden Eagles were up by 11. After a fast-break dunk by Bedford, ORU led by 15 with two minutes to play and would then go on to lead by as much as 20 with 14 seconds left. South Dakota scored on its last possession to make it an 84-66 contest in favor of ORU.    
 
Bedford had 17 points on the night for his third-straight double-digit night and 12^th of the season. Off the bench, Jones had a career night with 10 points and went 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Overall, the Golden Eagles shot 48.5 percent from the field for their eighth game of the season shooting 45 percent or better from the field and third-consecutive night with the same result.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: McBride scored 21 points and Thompson had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.  
 
South Dakota: Kaleb Stewart had 21 points and Paul Bruns and Lahat Thioune each grabbed eight boards.

Inside the Box Score/News & Notes
- ORU shot 31.6 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 48.5 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 12 assists on 32 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 46 points in the paint and 22 bench points.

- ORU forced USD to 18 turnovers and scored 17 points off those takeaways.
 
- The Golden Eagles have now won 10-straight Summit League home games.

- It was the third-straight win over South Dakota and back-to-back wins at the Mabee Center over the Coyotes.

- Thompson had his second double-double of the season.

- Jones scored a career high 10 points going 80 percent from the field.
 
- The 13 points by Thompson put him 12 points away from 1,000 career points.   

- It was the eighth time this season the Golden Eagles had shot at least 45 percent from the field.

Up Next
ORU will host the league leading St. Thomas Tommies Saturday, January 13 at 7 p.m. inside the Mabee Center. It will be Youth Sports/Jersey Night and ORU fans can get FREE tickets by visiting www.oruathletics.com/freetickets.
 
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.