TULSA—
Robert Jarvis (Humble, Texas) scored a game-high
17 points and Oral Roberts University rallied for a hard-fought
49-46 Summit League win over Western Illinois, Thursday at Mabee
Center. The win extended ORU's conference home court winning streak
to 33 games.
The victory also snapped a two-game losing streak for the Golden
Eagles (12-13, 10-3 Summit), and gave head coach Scott
Sutton his 180th career victory. It was also ORU's first win
this season when trailing at halftime (1-10).
Down 24-19 at halftime, ORU slowly chipped away at the
Leathernecks' lead in the second half. A three-pointer by Dominique
Morrison (Kansas City, Mo.) and a pair of free throws by Jarvis
pulled the Golden Eagles within 26-24 with 18:18 remaining. ORU
tied the game less than two minutes later on a Jarvis layup, and
took its first lead since the opening moments of the game when Marcus
Lewis (Long Beach, Calif.) made one-of-two free throws for a
27-26 advantage with 15:40 left.
Despite never losing the lead after that, ORU had to fight to gain
the victory. Lewis' free throw started a 10-3 run which led to a
36-29 advantage with 11:31 to play. But Western (8-17, 5-9)
responded with five straight points to pull within 36-34 with 8:42
left.
ORU eventually pushed the lead to six points when a Kyron
Stokes (Mansfield, Texas) layup made it 47-41 with 3:30 to go,
but Western limited ORU to two points the rest of the way, and had
a shot to send it to overtime at the buzzer.
After Lewis made the second of two free throws for a 49-46 ORU lead
with 22 seconds left, Western Illinois held the ball for a final
shot. After a timeout, Ceola Clark fired up a heavily-guarded
three-pointer from the right wing, but the shot was well short,
preserving the win for ORU.
Jarvis was just 4-of-14 from the field, but made 3-of-7 from
three-point range, and was 6-of-7 from the line. Lewis added 13
points and eight rebounds, joining Jarvis as the only Golden Eagles
to score in double figures.
No Western player reached double digits. The Leathernecks were led
by David Nurse and Clark, who scored nine points each.
The Golden Eagles out-rebounded WIU, 31-25, getting 12 of their 15
offensive rebounds in the second half. ORU was limited to 31.8
shooting for the game, but held the Leathernecks to 41 percent
overall. The Golden Eagles owned a decided advantage at the free
throw line, making 17-of-26 from the stripe, compared to 9-of-11
for Western.
ORU returns to action against Summit League foe IUPUI, 7:05 p.m.,
Saturday at Mabee Center.
--ORU--
