Box Score | Season Stats | 2023-24 Schedule
 
The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 76 – St. Thomas 87
Record: ORU (8-9, 2-2) – UST (13-6, 3-1)
Location: Tulsa, Okla. (Mabee Center)
 
TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts men's basketball team fell Saturday evening at the Mabee Center to St. Thomas, 87-76.
 
For the third-straight game, Issac McBride led ORU in scoring with his third-straight 20-plus point outing. McBride scored 22 in the contest against St. Thomas off his 9-for-17 shooting night. Jailen Bedford added to the stat-sheet with his first double-double of the season with 22 points and 15 rebounds. Kareem Thompson scored 14 points of his own pushing him past the 1,000 point career milestone becoming the 39^th player in ORU men's basketball history to achieve the honor.
 
The Golden Eagles opened the game with a three-pointer by Trey Phipps. The offense got going and soon ORU was ahead 12-4. St. Thomas would then make a few stops and went on a 10-2 run to tie, 14-14 with 13 minutes left in first. The Tommies took a four point lead two minutes later on a 10-2 run that was snapped by Jalen Miller. UST hit a three with nine minutes to go up by five and then ORU would pull to within seven, four minutes later. Bedford hit a three to pull ORU back to four, but with two minutes on the clock, St. Thomas had an eight point lead. St. Thomas closed out the first half on a 7-0 run and scored a three right before halftime to take a 46-33 lead into the locker room. The Tommies shot 59 percent from the field in the first, despite McBride leading all scorers with 14.
 
St. Thomas extended run to start the second half,9-0, before ORU would bring it back to within 10. With 15 minutes left, ORU trailed by 15, however, the Golden Eagles would come back to cut it to 11 with 13 minutes after two free-throws by Ashton Smith. WIth 10 to go, Bedford cut the deficit to single digits on a spin move layup and down the stretch, ORU would pull to within seven with 4:28 to play. The Golden Eagles would go back down by as much as 16 before getting back to within 11 to close out the 87-76 contest.   
 
The hot shooting Tommies finished the night going 52.6 percent from the field, however, only managed 57.1 percent from the free-throw line.
 
Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Bedford and McBride each scored 22 points and Bedford had a double-double grabbing 15 rebounds.  
 
St. Thomas: Drake Dobbs scored 17 points and Kendall Blue along with Ahjany Lee each pulled down seven boards.

Inside the Box Score/News & Notes
- ORU shot 31.6 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 45.9 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had seven assists on 28 made baskets.

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

- ORU forced UST to five turnovers and scored seven points off those takeaways.
 
- Bedford's 15 rebounds were a career high.

- Bedford's double-double was the first of the season and made it a second-straight game and ORU player recorded a double-double.

- Thompson's 14 points away put him over 1,000 career points making him the 39^th ORU player to do so.   

- It was the ninth time this season the Golden Eagles had shot at least 45 percent from the field.

Up Next
The Golden Eagles will hit the road to face the North Dakota Fighting Hawks Thursday, January 18 at 7 p.m. in Grand Forks, North 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.