MidCon Tournament: ORU 79, Centenary 59: Eagles Soaring -Tulsa World (3/4/07)

[ManiacVP]

Green's 25 points help lead ORU over Centenary in a quarterfinal game.

The Oral Roberts basketball team didn't wait until the closing seconds to beat Centenary this time.

The Golden Eagles did, however, wait several minutes before getting started in Saturday's first-round game at the Mid-Continent Conference tournament.

The Eagles lost turnovers on seven of their first nine possessions and didn't lead in the game until just over eight minutes had elapsed.

But they caught fire before halftime, took control early in the second half and raced to a 79-59 win before about 3,000 spectators at the Union Multipurpose Activity Center.

Caleb Green scored 25 points and Ken Tutt added 17 as the Eagles (21-10) advanced to the tournament semifinals for the third straight year.

"This didn't seem like a 20-point game. It was a hard-fought win," said ORU coach Scott Sutton. "Give those guys credit. For an eighth-place team, they've got two of the top 10 players in the conference (guard Tyrone Hamilton and forward Alexander Starr).

"They play extremely hard and they've been difficult for us, especially the last time we played them. That was a one-possession game that went down to the 

wire."

The Eagles beat the Gents 85-80 at the Mabee Center 16 days ago in a game they led by 15 at halftime but saw Centenary tie with 48 seconds left and almost tie again when Starr missed a layup with 14 seconds left.

This time, ORU led by six at intermission, scored the first seven points of the second half and held the Gents at arm's length thereafter, never allowing them closer than eight points.

Tutt, who scored on a runner from the lane to end the first half, scored the first bucket after intermission and Adam Liberty followed with a driving layup. Tutt hit a foul shot and Yemi Ogunoye followed with a thundering one-handed dunk off of Shawn King's miss.

The Eagles admitted to hav ing jitters as the defending tourney champs opened their bid for a repeat NCAA appearance. The tournament winner receives the Mid-Con's automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.

"The first game is always the hardest," said Tutt. "(Centenary) had nothing to lose and we have a big X on our chests. Everybody always gives us their best shot."

Centenary (10-21) had little to lose, playing in its first Mid-Con Tournament in three years.

The Gents scored eight of the game's first eight points and led 11-4 with 13:56 left, but Green lit the fuse for a comeback. Furious over an offensive foul called against him with 14:41 left, he came back with five straight points, cutting the margin to 11-9.

"I don't know if I was fired up. I think I got a little more comfortable," Green said. "I started understanding what (Centenary) was doing and I got more aggressive. I think my teammates feed off that and think everybody got more comfortable."

King scored 13 points and blocked six shots, tying a career high. The Mid-Con's leading shot-blocker was all over Centenary center Larry Logan in one second-half sequence, pinning one shot against the backboard, blocking another shot and almost blocking a third.

ORU also got a lift from its bench. Moses Ehambe hit two 3-pointers and scored eight of his 11 points in the first half. Sango energized the Eagles with steals and deflections. He also had three assists, scored eight points and made his first 3-pointer of the season after missing 22 shots from behind the arc.

Marchello Vealy was scoreless, but had six rebounds and two blocked shots in 11 minutes.

"We're a pretty good team when all those guys play well for us," Sutton said.

[Texasgrip]

Although I was more than a little nervous listening to the (internet) radio during 1st half, I would much prefer that we play as a "second-half" team like we did last night...as opposed to how our momentum progressed most of the season.