ORU's streak over - Tulsa World (12-8-2005)

[ORUTerry]

ORU's streak over

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

12/8/2005

Hinson's Bears defeat Golden Eagles in his return to Tulsa

The weather outside was frightful and so was the shooting by the Oral Roberts University basketball team -- not to mention its second-half defense.

The Golden Eagles fell into a deep hole and a confident Missouri State team kept shoveling dirt in on top of them. The Bears rolled to an 88-76 nonconference win to celebrate head coach Barry Hinson's return to the Mabee Center, where he spent two years as ORU's head coach.

"It's a special win," Hinson said, but the best part was "getting back to Tulsa. I'm a Tulsan, I love this place and people have been good to me. A university president (ORU's Richard Roberts) sat out there tonight who gave me an opportunity to be a head coach and I'm forever indebted to him."

Tyler Chaney scored 23 points and Deke Thompson added 16 to pace five Bears in double figures as Missouri State improved to 5-0. Thompson, who played high school basketball at Jenks, scored seven of the Bears' first nine points of the second half, helping them erase a 41-37 halftime deficit.

"To come home and get a win in front of the home crowd is real special to me," Thompson said.

Larry Owens scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half to pace the Eagles, who had a three-game winning streak broken and fell to 4-3. Owens' points helped the Eagles lead by as many as nine in the first half.

Caleb Green and Ken Tutt, ORU's leading scorers, were held to only nine first-half points.

Green and Tutt finished with 12 and 11, but most of Green's came after Missouri State had pushed out to a commanding lead. The Bears led by as many as 20 at 82-62 with 3:32 left.

The 12-point loss was ORU's most lopsided at home since last year's 88-74 loss to UMKC and just missed being the worst in four years.

ORU coach Scott Sutton said it was also a sign that "we aren't as good as our players think we are, or some of our fans think we are. Sometimes, a loss like this will open people's eyes and hopefully make (our players) understand we can't play like this and win 25 games, and that we can't play like this and expect to get to the NCAA Tournament."

The Eagles, who play their next seven away from the Mabee Center, shot a season-low 39.1 percent while allowing Missouri State to shoot 52.1 percent. ORU missed 16 of its first 19 shots of the second half and never recovered, eventually hitting 11-of-34. The Eagles compounded the plight by not getting back on defense, and letting the Bears score repeatedly on dribble penetration and backdoor cuts.

"It was layup after layup -- a layup drill," Sutton said. "That's what happens when you don't play well and don't compete. I've had some bad teams here, especially in my earlier years, but I don't know if I've ever been more frustrated and disappointed in a team than I am tonight."

Missouri State scored the first six points of the second half, and Chaney's 3-pointer put them ahead to stay at 49-47 with 16:28 left. The Eagles couldn't get anything started.

"The bottom line is, (Missouri State) wanted it more in the second half," said Owens, whose 22 points were one shy of tying a career high. "We came out too flat, like we always do. We've got to learn to put a 40-minute game together."

The Bears came in riding a crest of momentum, shooting 53 percent from 3-point range and averaging 51 second-half points, their total against the Eagles. They won despite getting only two points from Blake Ahearn who led the team with 25.3 points per game.

"They're a very good basketball team, playing with great confidence. I was concerned about that. They came here on a roll," Sutton said. "We did a nice job on Ahearn, but somebody stepped up and that's what good teams do."