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The Basics
Score: (RV) Oral Roberts 95 – St. Thomas 88
Record: ORU (22-4, 13-0) – UST (16-11, 7-7)
Location: St. Paul, Minn. (Schoenecker Arena)
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Max Abmas became the Summit League's all-time three-point scorer Thursday evening as the Oral Roberts men's basketball team won at St. Thomas, 95-88, to improve to 22-4 on the season.  
 
Thursday evening Abmas surpassed Michael Watson (Kansas City) to become the league's all-time three-point scorer and now has 393 career made three-pointers. He made four Thursday evening at St. Thomas in front of a sold out crowd at Schoenecker Arena. He led all scorers with 27 points as the Golden Eagles won their ninth-straight, the nation's second longest winning streak, behind Eastern Washington (14). ORU also improved to 13-0 in Summit League play, the longest winning streak in conference play in program history.
 
It started out as a back and forth game as ORU went up early by four points. A 16-2 run by St. Thomas eliminated the Golden Eagles lead and the Tommies found themselves with a 10 point lead with 12:34 left in the first half. Oral Roberts then went on a 16-0 run over the span of five minutes to go up by 6 with 6:30 to go. ORU extended its run to 20-3 and then 26-5 to lead by as much as 11 with 3:11 on the clock. UST went on a 9-0 run to pull to within two, late in the first half, but ORU held on to a 45-41 lead at halftime. Carlos Jurgens led ORU in the first half with 16 points as the Golden Eagles shot 50 percent from the field. The Tommies nailed eight first half three-pointers, despite shooting 45 percent overall.
 
ORU went up by seven, early in the second before three consecutive three-pointers by St. Thomas gave the Tommies a two point lead. With 13:36 left in the game, UST had a five point lead. ORU put together a 14-3 run to lead by 9 with 7:14 left that was capped off by a pair of free-throws by Abmas. St. Thomas came back to within three with 2:12 to go before Patrick Mwamba recovered a long rebound and went for a fast break dunk to put ORU back up by five. After two St. Thomas free-throws, Oral Roberts broke the full court press and got the ball to the paint to Kareem Thompson who passed it to DeShang Weaver for another dunk to go back up by five. Defense held the Tommies down the stretch and ORU hit free-throws to win it, 95-88, for its eighth road win of the season. The Golden Eagles shot 65 percent from the field in the second half.
 
It was Abmas' third-straight 20-point outing and was one of five Golden Eagles to score in double-digits. Carlos Jurgens earned a season high 20 points. Issac McBride scored 16 on the night as it was his ninth-straight double-digit game. DeShang Weaver added 14 and Patrick Mwamba captured 13 points. It was the ninth-straight win for ORU as the Golden Eagles have now won 19 of their last 20. Oral Roberts improves to 22-4 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 now holds a four game lead in the Summit League standings with five games to play with a 13-0 record. The 13 wins in league action ties the most wins in conference play since the 2012-13 season.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Abmas scored 27 points. He and Jurgens each pulled down seven rebounds.

St. Thomas: Andrew Rohde had 25 points and Brooks Allen grabbed five rebounds.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot 35.7 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 56.9 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 16 assists on 33 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 44 points in the paint and 27 bench points.

- ORU forced St. Thomas to seven turnovers and scored 12 points off those takeaways.

News and Notes

- Abmas has scored 2,382 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 393 three-pointer made making him second all-time in ORU history in that category. He is now No. 1 all-time in the Summit League in three-pointers made.

- For Abmas, it was his 13^th-straight double-digit game. He moved to 4^th all-time in points scored in the Summit League record book.

- Vanover has 80 blocks on the season and is second the nation in total blocks and in blocks per game.

- The 13 league wins ties for the most conference wins since the 2012-13 season.
 
- It's the 10^th time in program history the team has won 22 or more games.
 
- The Golden Eagles are one of three teams in the nation to remain undefeated in conference play.
 
- Head Coach Paul Mills is two wins shy of 100 career wins as a head coach.   

Up Next
The Golden Eagles will head to Macomb, Illinois, Saturday, February 11 to face Western Illinois at 2 p.m.

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.