Dominican Republic Missions Trip

[TrueBlue82]

From ORUAthletics.com

 

The Basics
Score:  Mauricio Baez 79 – ORU 76
Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – With eight players dressed, six of whom had never seen action in an Oral Roberts uniform before, the ORU men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with the professionals from Mauricio Baez Thursday evening in the first of four games as part of ORU's mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

After a slow shooting start, the Golden Eagles had a spurt of easy baskets, including dunks by DaQuan Jeffries and Javan White to get back in the game. An alley-oop off the glass from Jalen Bradley to Jeffries gave ORU a 26-25 lead with 5:35 to go in the second quarter.

The two teams were tied at 33-33 with 1:58 to play before the half when the power went out at the arena, leaving everyone in the dark.

Although they trailed by as many as eight in the fourth quarter, the Golden Eagles had a chance to tie the game at the end, getting a steal with nine seconds to play but failed to get a shot off and fell 79-76.

It was not all about basketball on the first full day in the Dominican Republic as the team took the opportunity to do some sightseeing. Photos from the trip can be found here.

Turning Point
Jalen Bradley hit a pair of free throws to make it a one-possession game with nine seconds to play. After a Mauricio Baez timeout, ORU stole the inbounds pass but couldn't get a shot off as time expired.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts:  Jalen Bradley led the way with 16 points. DaQuan Jeffries added 14, while Aaron Younng and Kris Martin each chipped in 12. Javan White finished with 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Mauricio Baez: Danillo Nunez led all scorers with 18 points, while Gregorio Adon added 16.

Inside the Box Score
- Javan White grabbed six rebounds in the first half, leading ORU to a 22-12 rebounding advantage at the half. ORU had a 38-26 rebounding edge for the game.
- The first half was highlighted by Jeffries thunderous alley-oop dunk with a pass off the backboard from Bradley.
- A steal and a pull-up 3-pointer by Jalen Bradley put ORU up 45-43 with just over six minutes to go in the third quarter.
- While Bradley had a hand in the first half highlight, he also had the highlight of the third quarter, running through a pass before hitting a pull-up 3-pointer.
- In the fourth quarter, White had his second big dunk as he ran the floor and was rewarded with a soaring dunk to give him 10 points foro the night.
- ORU shot 44 percent (30-68) for the game, including 30.8 percent (8-26) from 3-point range. ORU hit 66.7 percent (8-12) from the free throw line.
- Mauricio Baez was hot all night, connecting on 55.6 percent (30-54) from the field, 35.3 percent (6-17) from 3-point range, and 76.5 percent (13-17) from the free throw line.

Up Next
After visiting an orphanage Friday morning, the Golden Eagles will face Bameso at 7 p.m. (ET).

[theeagleman5]

Excellent reporting, TrueBlue.....sounds like our kids battled well against older guys......is the rumor true that tonights' opponent Bameso is a team of cab drivers from Santo Domingo?....

[oruvoice]

Without seeing or hearing the game, I am thrilled that the new guys are getting minutes/experience! We're going to need several of them to step up, early in their ORU careers.

[Old Titan]

Think we'll be seeing this picture used much in brochures, websites, etc. for the foreseeable future?

 

This little girl LOVED Coach Sutton (and the feeling was mutual!) #ORUMBB pic.twitter.com/TPtfSdakxE

— ORU Basketball (@ORUMBB)

August 7, 2015

[theeagleman5]

That truly is a great photo of our coach and TheEagleman is proud of what ORU is doing down in the Domincan Republic this week....it's a wonderful thing.....plus, our boys have won the last 2 games playing shorthanded and are playing the final game of the trip as I write this on just a 15 hour turnaround.....and with just 7 healthy bodies.....ouch!....

[ORUalum]

ORU finishes 3-1....not bad considering they played with only 7 or 8 guys available.

good experience for the young guys.  White, Martin, Jeffries, and Owens all posted good numbers.

 

i was a bit surprised by Anderson's stat lines, but perhaps he was intentionally deferring to the young guys.

 

hope there is an impact player or two in that freshman class....time will tell, but things appear promising.

[Old Titan]

From the photos posted online, it appears the competition - and the venues - declined with each outing.  The guys ORU played today appeared to be awfully young, and the facility looked like one of the auxiliary gyms my son's team used to get relegated to in the summer tournament loser's bracket.

 

Still, it's valuable scrimmage time, as long as Crawford (or anyone else) did not sustain a serious injury.  Hope it proves beneficial in the long run, since so many of the young guys will be asked to play important minutes until Omegano, Conley and Harris return from their respective ailments.  And from an outreach and team-bonding perspective, it appears from all the Twitter and Instagram posts to have been a moving experience for many of the guys, especially the freshmen and transfers.

 

So all in all, a great trip, with a couple of days now to enjoy the sights before returning to Tulsa.  But, upon return, how about announcing the non-conference schedule?  School is getting ready to start, for crying out loud...