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The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 103 – South Dakota 53
Record: ORU (20-4, 11-0) – USD (10-13, 5-6)
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma (Mabee Center)
 
TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts men's basketball team secured its largest margin of victory over a league opponent in program history Monday evening with a 103-53 win over South Dakota at the Mabee Center.
 
It was a historical night at the Mabee Center as ORU defeated league foe South Dakota to earn its 20^th win of the season and 11^th conference win to improve to 14-0 at home. The 50 point win was the largest against a conference opponent since a 48 point victory over Chicago State back in 1998. Max Abmas led all scorers with 31 points on the night going 10-for-17 from the field. He was one of four Golden Eagles to score in double figures. Kareem Thompson secured his fourth career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Thompson added seven assists and finished the night with a plus-minus of 51.
 
Oral Roberts never trailed in Monday's game and led by as much as 56 late in the second half. As the game started, ORU jumped out to a 7-0 lead. South Dakota came back to within two, but that's as close as they would get. An 11-0 run by the Golden Eagles made it a 13 point game just eight minutes in. With 4:41 left before the half, ORU sparked a 9-0 run to lead by 30 that stretched over three minutes. At halftime ORU led 47-18 and shot 58.1 percent from the field as Abmas had 17 points.
 
The dominance continued in the second half. With 15:56 to play, USD would make it a 29 point game, but it was short lived as ORU had another 9-0 to stretch it to a 38 point separation. With 9:51 on the clock, Abmas hit a three-pointer and on the following possession he had a steal and another triple to up his point total to 31. With 9:05 to go Trey Phipps nailed a three-pointer and was fouled. He converted the four point play to make it a 43 point ORU advantage. Three minutes later he would hit his second triple of the game to lift the Golden Eagles up by 50. Oral Roberts would lead by as much as 56 with 3:39 to play. Down the stretch, the Coyotes would put to within 48, but ORU would win it, 103-53. The Golden Eagles shot 52.8 percent from the field in the second half.
 
Issac McBride scored 20 on the night as it was his third 20 point game of the season. Connor Vanover added 10 points and made four blocks. The hot shooting Golden Eagles hit 18 three-pointers on the night, tying the most three-pointers made as a team in the Division-1 era. Defensively, ORU has held conference opponents to 72 or fewer points in nine of their 11 games played. Oral Roberts improves to 20-4 on the season, its best start since 2011-12. ORU now holds a four game lead in the Summit League standings with seven games to play.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Abmas scored 31 points and Patrick Mwamba had 11 rebounds. Thompson was most efficient with a 51 plus-minus. He was three assists shy of a triple-double.

South Dakota: Mason Archambault tallied 11 points and Damani Hayes grabbed six rebounds.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot 48.6 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 55.2 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 19 assists on 37 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 32 points in the paint and 22 bench points.

- ORU forced South Dakota to 16 turnovers and scored 23 points off those takeaways.

News and Notes

- Abmas has scored 2,334 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 385 three-pointer made making him second all-time in ORU history in that category.

- For Abmas, it was his 11^th-straight double-digit game. He moved to 5^th all-time in points scored in the Summit League record book.

- Vanover has 75 blocks on the season and is second the nation in total blocks and in blocks per game.

- The Golden Eagles improved to 11-0 in Summit League play for the first time since 2011-12. ORU now has a minimum of a four game lead over everyone in the conference standings.
 
- It's the first time since the 2011-12 season ORU has won 20 or more games before February. It's also the first time since the 2012-13 season ORU won 20 or more games total.
 
- The Golden Eagles are one of five teams in the nation to eclipse the 20 win total so far this season.

- ORU is 14-0 inside the Mabee Center this season. The 14 wins at home is the most in a season in the Paul Mills era. The 20 wins are the most wins in a season under Mills.
 
- Head Coach Paul Mills is four wins shy of 100 career wins as a head coach.   

Up Next
The Golden Eagles will hit the road to play the Kansas City Roos Saturday, February 4 at 7 p.m. in Kansas City, Missouri.

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.