Box Score | Season Stats | 2023-24 Schedule
 
The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 77 – North Dakota 87
Record: ORU (8-10, 2-3) – UND (10-10, 2-3)
Location: Grand Forks, N.D. (Engelstad Center)
 
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Despite a career high by Issac McBride, the Oral Roberts men's basketball fell at North Dakota, 87-77, Thursday evening in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
 
McBride captured 30 points for a career high Thursday as he is the first Golden Eagle to score 30-plus points in a game this season. The point total gave him his fourth-consecutive game with 20 or more points and ninth-straight game with 10 or more.
 
Jailen Bedford scored on the opening possession and the Golden Eagles scored on their first two offensive sets before UND went up, 8-4, early. DeShang Weaver answered to make it a two-point game before an 11-2 UND run put the Fighting Hawks up 13-6 at the first media timeout. The run was then extended to 13-2, but was then broken by McBride with a pair of free-throws. North Dakota took a 10-point lead with 11 minutes left in the first. As ORU tried to claw back, the Fighting Hawks had another 10-point lead with nine minutes to go, which was a part of another 11-2 run that put UND up by 14. Jalen Miller ended the run with a three-pointer to pull ORU back to within 11. Miller's bucket was then followed up with a three by Weaver to make it an eight-point game. The run continued to a 9-0 run with a three when Kareem Thompson when he sank a three-ball. It was a 14-2 stint that pulled ORU back within two, 30-28, with 5 minutes to go and highlighted by a triple by McBride with 1 second left on shot clock on the last possession of the run. North Dakota went back up by eight with 1:28 to go that then was pushed to double-digits. With a 10-point deficit under a minute, ORU had the final shot of the half and McBride nailed a three to make it a 44-37 score at the half. McBride led all scorers with 14 points in the first 20 minutes. ORU shot 50 percent from the field and UND shot 55 percent.
 
North Dakota got the ball to start the second half and scored to go up by nine. The Golden Eagles got the game back down to five with another three by Thompson. With 14:19 to go, UND led by 11, but Thompson pulled it back to single digits with a set of free-throws. With almost a three minute drought, ORU trailed by 12 with 10 minutes to play, but then pulled back to within seven with five minutes to go with another three by McBride. North Dakota managed a 10-point lead with 2:20 to play before Thompson scored that was followed up by a steal on the inbound and an and-one opportunity that was capitalized by Bedford to make it a five point game. The Fighting Hawks hit two free-throws and closed out the shot clock with a three to regain a 10 point lead with 1:22 to play. Down the stretch, UND pulled away with free-throws and won, 87-77.
 
Thompson added 19 points for his 11^th-straight game with 10-plus points and 47^th outing of his career. Bedford had 11 points making it five-straight with double-digit points.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: McBride dropped 30 points on the night and Thompson had eight rebounds.  
 
North Dakota: B.J. Omot scored 25 points and Tsotne Tsartsidze grabbed 12 rebounds.

Inside the Box Score/News & Notes
- ORU shot 30.4 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 48.4 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had five assists on 27 made baskets.

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

- ORU forced UND to three turnovers and scored seven points off those takeaways.
 
- McBride's 30 points were a career high.

- It was the third time in program history ORU fell at North Dakota.

Up Next
ORU will head to Fargo, North Dakota, for an afternoon matchup with the North Dakota State Bison Saturday, January 20 at 1 p.m.

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