Valpo's late rally nips ORU (TW)

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Valpo's late rally nips ORU

By Staff Reports

2/2/2007

ORU gives up nine-point lead late and loses in OT.

VALPARAISO, Ind. -- Oral Roberts' nine-game winning streak ended in freakish fashion Thursday night.

Valparaiso rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final 1:57 of regulation and beat the Golden Eagles 70-67 in overtime, giving ORU its first Mid-Continent Conference loss of the season.

Valpo junior swingman Shawn Huff scored a game-high 21 points and made five 3-pointers, including two in the final 20 seconds of regulation, as Valpo rallied from a 60-51 deficit to tie the game at 65.

Then, Huff nailed his fifth 3-pointer with two minutes left in overtime to break a 67-67 tie. That proved to be the game-winner, although ORU had chances to win even after Caleb Green fouled out with 53.7 seconds left.

Ken Tutt, who has won six games in his ORU career with last second shots, shot an airball out of bounds from the top of the key with 3.7 seconds left, but officials said the ball was tipped and the Eagles got one more shot.

Tutt drove down the left sideline and shot over a Valpo defender from about 21 feet, only hitting the rim as time expired, and hundreds of Crusader fans stormed the floor.

Green led ORU with 19, his 58th consecutive 

game to score in double digits. Tutt had 14 and guard Adam Liberty added 13 as ORU lost for the first time since a Dec. 29 loss at Brigham Young. But the Eagles (15-8, 7-1) retained their conference lead by one-half game over Oakland, which did not play Thursday.

ORU plays at Western Illinois and Oakland plays at Indiana-Purdue on Saturday.

It was the last conference meeting between the teams before Valpo (11-11, 5-3) begins play in the Horizon League next season. ORU leads the series 13-12, but fell to 1-10 in games played in Valpo's Athletics-Recreation Center. ORU's 75-68 win at Valpo two years ago was the only road win by either team in the series.

ORU led 31-29 at halftime and used an 11-0 run to build a 52-44 lead with eight minutes left. The Eagles made it 60-51 when Liberty made two foul shots and Tutt made a third after Valpo coach Homer Drew was called for a technical with 1:57 left.

But from there, it was all Valpo. Samuel Haanpaa hit a 3-pointer with 1:31 left and Jarryd Loyd scored a layup after an ORU turnover.

Liberty made two foul shots and it was 62-56, but Brandon McPherson hit another trey and it was 62-59 with 29 seconds left. The Crusaders fouled ORU's Kelvin Sango and he made two foul shots, but Huff made a guarded trey as he was falling out of bounds with 17.7 seconds left.

After taking their last timeout, the Crusaders fouled ORU's Yemi Ogunoye, a 37-percent foul shooter for the season. Ogunoye made his first free throw but missed the second. Huff rebounded, and came down to make the game-tying trey with 3.5 seconds left in regulation.

Liberty opened overtime with two foul shots, but that was ORU's last lead. Valpo got a hoop from 6-foot-8 Urule Igbavboa, who plundered the Eagles in spurts and finished with 17 points.

Counting three games in last year's conference tournament, ORU had won 13 in a row over Mid-Con foes. Tutt scored 11 first-half points, hitting a shot in the closing seconds to give ORU its halftime lead.