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The Basics
Summit League Championship Quarterfinal
Score: (RV) No. 1 Oral Roberts 96 – No. 9 North Dakota 80
Record: ORU (28-4, 18-0) – UND (13-20, 6-12)
Location: Sioux Falls, S.D. (Denny Sanford PREMIER Center)
 
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Oral Roberts men's basketball team defeated North Dakota 96-80 in the quarterfinal round of the Summit League Championship Saturday evening in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
 
For the fourth-straight season, ORU has advanced to the semifinal round of the Summit League Championship in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Saturday's win also marked the 15^th-straight victory for Oral Roberts, who currently has the nation's longest winning streak. The 28 overall wins are the most wins in a season since 1989-90. Carlos Jurgens led the Golden Eagles with a season high 21 points as he was one of four Golden Eagles to score in double figures.
 
Oral Roberts came out of the gate ready to play. The Golden Eagles took the lead in the opening possession with an alley-oop to Connor Vanover and didn't give it up. A 9-0 run midway through the half boosted the Golden Eagles to a 16 point lead with 11 minutes left on the clock. After North Dakota cut the lead down to 10, ORU sparked a 15-0 run that was capped off with a dunk by Vanover with 3:24 left in the first. With 52 seconds left, Max Abmas hit a three-pointer to give ORU its largest lead of the half, 26. After baskets by both teams in the closing possessions, the Golden Eagles went into halftime leading 56-31 on 58 percent shooting from the field. Three Golden Eagles scored in double-figures in the first half with Carlos Jurgens leading the team with 14.
 
North Dakota started the second half on a 6-0 run to bring the game back to within 19 points. The Fighting Hawks were then able to cut it to a 16 point game with 15:49 left in the game. A 10-0 run by ORU would then extend the lead back to 26 a few minutes later. After a pair of free-throws by Kareem Thompson, ORU had its largest lead of the game by 28 with six minutes to play. Oral Roberts would close out the game with a 96-80 victory.
 
The Golden Eagles have now won 25 of their last 26 games and improve to 28-4 on the season, their most wins in a season as a Division One program. Oral Roberts has defeated opponents by double-digits in 18 games this season. ORU recorded a season low two turnovers and did not allow any points off those turnovers to UND.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Jurgens scored 21 points and Vanover had six rebounds.

North Dakota: B.J. Omot scored 15 and Jalun Trent pulled down eight boards.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot 40 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 50.7 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 16 assists on 37 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 48 points in the paint and 19 bench points.

- ORU forced UND to 15 turnovers and scored 18 points off those takeaways.

News and Notes

- Abmas has scored 2,501 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 412 three-pointer made making him second all-time in ORU history in that category. He is No. 1 all-time in the Summit League in three-pointers made.

- For Abmas, it was his 19^th-straight double-digit game. He is 3^rd all-time in points scored in the Summit League record book, and is two behind second.

- Vanover has 97 blocks on the season and is second the nation in total blocks and in blocks per game.

- The 18 league wins were the most conference wins in program history.

- The 28 overall wins are the most wins in the Division One era and most for the program since 1989-90.
 
- It's the third time in program history the team has won 28 or more games.
 
- The Golden Eagles were the only team in the nation to go through conference play undefeated.

- ORU is on a 15 game win streak, the nation's longest winning streak.

Up Next
ORU will face the winner of Sunday's quarterfinal game between No. 4 Western Illinois and No. 5 St. Thomas, Monday, March 6 at 6 p.m. at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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.