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Well, color me shocked - and glad of it. Congrats to the guys for a gutsy, timely performance. Every one of them played better than they have in weeks. Highlights of the evening for me: The times (and there were many) when ORU would miss a shot, and rather than the other team grab the ball, instead gathered the carom for themselves and continued with the offensive possession. I'm told that particular move is called an "offensive rebound" and boy, they sure did come in handy! Seriously, +7 in the rebounding category was huge. I've said this since November: if ORU can just break even on rebounds, and get to the free throw line a decent amount of the time, they should be in any game. The inbounds play when the game was tied 42-all (and USD was on what looked like a serious run) was epic. With only 3 seconds on the shot clock near the end of a seemingly wasted possession, Kareem curled off a Jones pick and splashed a contested 3 from the corner off the inbound pass for a lead ORU would never relinquish. And Josh didn't foul on the screen! (actually, he did kind of chuck the defender in the chest, but there was no call). And my favorite: Trey Phipps splashing a three late in the second half to put the lead into double-digits and forcing a Coyote timeout. He was grinning ear-to-ear as he back-pedaled down the floor, and when the whistle blew for the timeout, he carried that same grin all the way into the huddle to his exuberant teammates. THAT'S the kind of joy and spirit we've been looking for ALL YEAR from this team, and coupled wth Kareem's inbounds three, it seemed to really relax everybody as they closed the game out with big time threes from Bedford and McBride and some solid free throw shooting. A win vs. SDSU would be incredible, but frankly THIS was the game that I thought they just had to win, or at least look more like they cared, and they did (and then some). Whatever happens Saturday is gravy in my book. It's just a shame none of the team ever post on this forum, so they could come on here in all their victorious glory to say "HA!! UP YOURS, EAGLEMAN!! BITE ME, OLD TITAN!!" but as they obviously showed once again in their postgame interviews, they are WAY too classy to stoop to that level (but if they care to, maybe they can just let me know face-to-face at a baseball game down the road).

The second half was ORU’s best half of play since the calendar turned to 2024. If nothing else, ORU avoided the indignity of enduring the entire off-season on an eight game losing streak. And, in the Summit this season, ANY team can win it all.

It has been awhile since we talked about this subject but with 3 men this year joining the 1,000 point club, that now makes 40 all time. After game 30 tonight of the season, McBride has just passed Obi Emegano on the list, DJ just passed Arnold Duggar, and Kareem just passed Clifford Crenshaw. These names might bring up some old memories.

Great to get a win as it has been over a month since the Eagles won. ORU played with heart, rebounded well and the defense was solid. They started the second half by getting Herron a few buckets and that opened it up for shooters to knock down some 3s. The bench struggled this year but Trey and Josh Jones gave the good guys some strong minutes.

Your wish is granted....A rested SDSU team backed by a rabid home crowd wins by 10+ on Saturday Night....

Eagleman, your prognostications are even worse than mine lately. Please pick SDSU tomorrow!

Nice win by the good guys. 1-0 in the "third"-season of 2023-24. Brings hope for a 2-0 start to the third season tomorrow night. If we play tomorrow night like we did tonight, we have a shot; however, the opposition will be much more talented. #PrayersUp

Good guys up 3-1 in the middle of the 5th. It has been the usual bumpy ride on the broadcast. The fill in announcer from Bartlesville is doing a fine job. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone field a ball yet. Definitely have not seen any outfielders field a ball. In one inning the score graphic showed the ORU run total, and this is in order, to be 1,4,2 and again 1. But I am happy to be able to watch the game.

Nice to see Kareem working them over inside just like the old days

Finally a "good" wow. Where has this team been the last two months? #headscratcher

Here’s a thought. Don’t shoot with 7 seconds to go so they have no chance to take a shot. Bedford is shooting us out of the game.

...and Breeze saves G1 with a walk-off single! Extra Twin Snake for Holden!!!

I would think that our bigs will have a hard time handling Appel and Kyle tonight. If fouls rack up on Herron and Jones, it will come down to how effective Moore and Smith can be in their absence. If we can knock the game down low off their rhythm, we have a chance. Our guards know how to rebound; our bigs need to step up and play smart now.

Percentage was still not great, but I thought we were not shooting enough threes during the losing streak. Sticking with the 3 really paid off tonight.

TheEagleman will gladly eat crow tonight and enjoy this win...I will have visions of sugar plum fairies and McBride 3 balls as I sleep very soundly tonight....tomorrow evening ORU plays the #1 seeded Jacks with house money and anything could happen...and maybe it will....or not....but God Bless Springmann and the boys....

Congratulations Golden Eagles!

What a pleasant surprise tonight! If the team that competed tonight and against K State, Texas Tech and Texas A+M shows up tomorrow night anything is possible. If the other team shows up I won’t state the obvious

Love Kareem in the postgame interview saying he saw his season stats and said "that's not me" (especially rebounds). Then went out and put up a double double. And Issac right next to him agreeing.

That’s the McBride I was hoping to see all season.

6 pt swing in the last 6 seconds of the half: Bedford misses a three then Bruns hits as the clock expires. Hope that's not too deflating for the Eagles!

Shoot! I may have to watch basketball now.

He played so well last summer in the Pioneer League I really thought he would get invited to spring training by someone.

Top 7 Wheels officially off.

My novice advice to the TV crew would be “follow the ball.“ We don’t need to see the batter run to first base… It’s a defined path and we’ve seen it many times before. However, we would like to see whether the ball is hit to the infield or outfield, or even over the fence! Follow the ball. And, yes, our broadcast froze and we did not see the close score near the end. Perhaps game 2 will show improvement. Otis, we are still grateful to be able to watch.

Have another dog, brother!

Trey was a plus 17 in just 18 minutes! Not sure you can do much better than that! I like how he slowly drives the ball and then kicks to an open shooter. ORU could have used more of that this year.

ORU is +7.5 which TheEagleman thinks is a little light......I will tip my hat to the Good Guys for showing up last night and playing with heart to advance but the Jacks are a whole different story....if we can play like we did for 40 minutes vs. USD then yeah.....Golden Eagles have a shot to pull the upset but like last month in Brookings SDSU will wear us down and probably pull away in the final 8-10 minutes....that said we have seen some huge upsets recently in the Summit League Tournament and this one has that kind of potential.....would be lovely to knock out the #1 seed and rest up til Monday playing the 4/5 winner....but .i will give the crowd what they want and pick the home team who will have huge vocal support this evening..Jacks just have too many weapons...SDSU 85 ORU 74....

Eagles hold USD to 62 points, which is the lowest vs D1 team all year. The closest was 63 vs Texas Southern. Where has that tough defense been all year?

The first half definitely looked like an 8 vs. 9 play-in game (which it was) with both teams struggling to find their flow and rhythm. This is very common, as the first game in the post-season can often be a challenge until a team finds its “playoff” form. That is one advantage (and maybe the only one) that ORU has over the Jackrabbits tonight. Yes, SDSU is well-rested, but ORU is playoff-tested, and I’ll take the latter every day of the week.

More McBride (shooting) and less Bedford… at least when he’s not making shots. He is really streaky.

Old guard Weaver and Thompson step it up and ORU wins by 6

For those in the Tulsa area that are Cox Cable subscribers, the ORU/USD game is on Channel 3 at 7:00.

I just hope the guys play with some energy and do not get blown out. There have been some tournament blowouts in other leagues, where you can just tell that teams have packed it in. Just do not give up ORU and fight to the end!

More diplomacy: Jake was really good at pickin' it. Makes everybody look better (not to mention it saves innings).

I will be shocked if the good guys pull this one off. Saw literally nothing vs. UMKC to make me think things are headed in the right direction, while South Dakota has shown some signs of life their past few games. Would love to be proven wrong!