Eagles win, but not with much fanfare - TW (11-22-2006)

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Eagles win, but not with much fanfare

by MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

11/22/2006

Post-Kansas win, ORU had to work hard to top the Cajuns.

The Oral Roberts basketball team went from making almost every shot it had to make to making almost no shots whatsoever.

Six days after upsetting third-ranked Kansas, the Golden Eagles managed just 5-of-23 in the second half and had to gut out a 54-51 win over Louisiana-Lafayette in Tuesday's home opener at the Mabee Center.

Senior forward Caleb Green collected 21 points and 12 rebounds for his 49th career double-double on a night when the visitors surrounded Green with a 2-3 zone and forced the Eagles to beat them from the outside.

And the Eagles almost couldn't do it. They missed 16 consecutive 3-pointers after senior guard Ken Tutt made the first of the game, when the Eagles raced to an 11-0 start.

They went more than nine minutes before scoring their first field goal of the second half, Moses Ehambe's putback of Marchello Vealy's missed foul shot.

ORU's inability to move the scoreboard kept ULL in a game that the Eagles led by as many as 13 points in the first half, but by no more than five down the stretch.

The Eagles got good looks and missed shot after shot. Ken Tutt's layup rolled off the lip. Shawn King's jumper went halfway down and came out. Adam Liberty's layup hit twice inside the rim.

Things were so nerve-wracking that with about four minutes left, Eddie Sutton, coaching legend and father of ORU coach Scott Sutton, had to the leave the arena.

"It's harder watching your own son coach than it is coaching yourself," Eddie Sutton said.

The Ragin' Cajuns never led at the end, but pulled within one on a 3-pointer by David Dees with 5:10 left, and again on a Dees layup with 54 seconds left.

Then, it turned into the KU game all over again. After an ORU timeout, Liberty drove down low and snaked a pass through the middle to Tutt, waiting on the far side. ORU's sharpshooting senior floated left and drained a 15-footer for a three-point lead with 34 seconds left.

It was Tutt who sank the insurance 3-pointer in the final minute at KU. This time, the Eagles' plan was to get the ball inside to Green, who was double- and triple-teamed most of the night.

"Caleb was covered and it was just a good job on Adam's part to make something happen, and I just stepped up and shot it," Tutt said.

ORU's Yemi Ogunoye rebounded Willie Lago's 3-point miss with seven seconds left and was fouled. Ogunoye missed both shots and ULL had one more chance from the ORU end, but could only manage an over-halfcourt fling by Ross Mouton that didn't draw iron.

Tutt scored 15 points with three steals as ORU improved to 2-1. Dees and Mouton had 18 and 16 for the visitors, who fell to 1-2. Scott Sutton thought the Eagles should have closed out the Cajuns after getting on them early.

Tutt started the game with a 3-pointer, then stole and passed to Ogunoye for a dunk and Ogunoye's first basket of the season. Tutt scored with Liberty's assist, King stole and dunked and Tutt stole and scored again and it was quickly 11-0.

ORU pushed its lead to 22-9 with 10:47 left in the half, but then went cold. ULL used a 14-4 run to cut the lead to 26-23, and from there, the Eagles never led by more than their 34-28 halftime margin.

"The disappointing thing is that two or three times, we're on the verge of maybe breaking it open and we have a turnover or miss an open shot. When we get a team down, especially at home, we have to do a better job of not letting them get the momentum," Sutton said.