orumom Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 Oral Roberts 68, USC 48 By VAN WILLIAMS Anchorage Daily News Published: November 23, 2005 Last Modified: November 24, 2005 at 03:01 AM Eager to shed the mid-major label and prove it was a basketball program on the rise, Oral Roberts came to the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout looking to gain some national notoriety. On Wednesday night, the Golden Eagles took the court with a small chip on their shoulder and took their aggression out on Southern California for the whole country to see. All-America candidate Caleb Green collected game-high totals with 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the charge as Oral Roberts rolled to a 68-48 first-round victory at Sullivan Arena in a game televised nationally by ESPN2. Playing their first nationally televised regular-season game since 1976, Oral Roberts made the most of its northern exposure with a wire-to-wire victory in which the Golden Eagles showed off a balanced team with a ton of weapons. "It's a great opportunity to showcase our team," said Oral Roberts head coach Scott Sutton. "We don't get that opportunity very often and I thought it was very important for us to play well tonight and we did." The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Green brought his full arsenal of post moves, including an NBA-like fallaway jumper from the baseline. The hard-to-guard junior forward proved too much for the smaller Trojans, who repeatedly fouled in an effort to slow him down. Green, who was the Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year and an honorable mention All-America selection last season, went to the free-throw line 15 times (seven more than the entire Southern Cal team) and made nine (six more than the Trojans). He was just as strong on the glass, pulling down five offensive rebounds. "Hopefully the exposure he gets tonight and hopefully throughout the season will open eyes of some people across the country and make them realize, 'Hey, this guy can play.' " Sutton said. "I think he's a legitimate All-American candidate." But Oral Roberts (1-1) is hardly a one-man show. Junior Ken Tutt added 13 points, Larry Owens chipped in 10, and nine of 10 players that saw the court reached the scoring column. The combination of Green, Owens and Yemi Ogunoye cleaned the glass like Windex to help the Golden Eagles own a 45-25 rebounding advantage, including a 19-10 edge on the offensive end. "They killed us on the boards," said Southern Cal head coach Tim Floyd, who is back in the college game after a stint in the NBA with Chicago and New Orleans. "That's a fine basketball team. They had a real purpose offensively and defensively." Oral Roberts grabbed an early 14-7 cushion after Chris Riouse drained his second straight three-pointer and pushed the advantage to 24-14 on Green's thunderous two-handed jam with nine minutes before halftime. The Golden Eagles weren't finished. Green, Ogunoye and Tutt combined to key a 14-2 run to end the first half for a commanding 41-23 lead at the break. Southern Cal features the dynamic sophomore tandem of Gabe Pruitt and Nick Young, yet the Trojans struggled to get many points from anybody else early on. Pruitt and Young combined for 17 of the team's 23 first-half points and 17 of 32 shots. Scoring comes easy for Pruitt and Young, a couple of athletic swingman who can shoot, drive and run. The 6-foot-4 Pruitt had a hand in the first eight points, draining three jump shots and feeding Lodrick Stewart for another jumper. Then it was Young's turn. The 6-foot-6 Young poured in eight of his team's next 12 points on a variety of above-the-rim plays. On one play, he knifed through a pair of defenders and threw a scoop shot high off the backboard. He rose above his defender for a three-pointer. And he drained a tough shot while hanging in the air. But if the Trojans are a SportsCenter highlight waiting to happen, it was Ryan Francis who had the team's top play nomination. Late in the first half, he shook defender Eric Fowlkes with an ankle-breaking crossover dribble before cutting between two post players camped at the basket for a pretty lay-in. Young led Southern Cal with 13 points and Puritt finished with 11, although both had a quiet second half. In the end, though, very little came easy for the Trojans. When it did, they didn't convert. On one sequence, Sead Odzic missed a driving lay-in and RouSean Cromwell missed on the tip-dunk attempt. Later, Young, Pruitt and Cromwell each missed uncontested jams that would have blown the roof off. "I guess we wanted to show how high we could jump, like we were going to get an extra point for it," Floyd said. "Our basketball team has a long way to go. We know that." Meanwhile, Oral Roberts could do no wrong. The Golden Eagles, which returned four starters from last season's 25-8 team that won the school's regular-season conference title, maintained a comfortable double-figure cushion throughout the second half, increasing the advantage to 45-23 on Owens' monster slam. "I think it's important that we get an opportunity to play teams like USC or whoever else we get to play in the tournament in a true neutral setting because we just don't get that opportunity very much," Sutton said. "When we play teams from power conferences, it's usually at their place with their officials, and those are very difficult conditions." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daily News reporter Van Williams can be reached at vwilliams@adn.com or 257-4335. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (48) Young 5-11 1-1 13, Ndiaye 0-1 0-0 0, Stewart 2-8 1-2 4, Francis 2-5 0-0 4, Pruitt 4-12 2-2 11, Shackleford 2-8 0-0 4, Wilkinson 0-0 0-0 0, Odzic 2-5 0-0 6, Barr 2-2 0-3 4, Cromwell 1-4 0-2 2. Totals: 20-56 3-8 48. ORAL ROBERTS (68) Owens 5-11 0-0 10, Green 5-12 9-15 19, Michalec 0-4 2-2 2, Tutt 5-8 1-2 13, Bluitt 1-4 0-0 2, Riouse 3-4 0-0 8, Vealy 1-1 0-0 2, Fowlkes 2-4 3-4 7, Meloy 0-1 0-0 0, Ogunoye 2-5 1-1 5. Totals: 24-54 16-24 68. Three-point goals -- USC 5-18 (Young 2-3, Stewart 0-1, Francis 0-2, Pruitt 1-6, Shackleford 0-3, Odzic 2-3); Oral 4-13 (Owens 0-1, Tutt 2-4, Bluitt 0-3, Riouse 2-3, Fowlkes 0-1, Meloy 0-1). Total fouls -- USC 19; Oral 11. Fouled out -- None. Rebounds -- USC 25 (Cromwell 5); Oral 45 (Green 10). Assists -- USC 8 (Shackleford 3); Oral 14 (Bluitt 6). Steals -- USC 6 (Francis 3); Oral 5 (Bluitt 2, Fowlkes 2). Blocked shots -- USC 3 (three players with 3); Oral 2 (Owens, Vealy). Turnovers -- USC 15 (Young 5); Oral 16 (three with 3). Technical fouls -- Green. Field-goal percentage -- USC 35.7; Oral 44.4. Free-throw percentage -- USC 37.5; Oral 66.7. Officials -- Self, Curry, Lujan. A -- 6,055 (Tickets sold). Southern California 23 25 -- 48 Oral Roberts 41 27 -- 68 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleFanatic Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 Very impresive story, you can really tell the Anchorage News likes writing good stories. Too bad they dont sell that here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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