8 man Squad Victorious

[orumom]

Eight-man ORU Squad Victorious at Northern Colorado, 79-66

12/11/2005

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ORU vs Northern Colorado Box Score.pdf

Caleb Green

GREELEY, Colo.?Five players scored in double figures, led by Caleb Green's (Tulsa, Okla.) game-high 24 points, as an undermanned Oral Roberts University squad outlasted Northern Colorado for a 79-66 victory, Sunday at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.

Green was 7-of-15 from the field and 10-of-13 from the free throw line, and added a season-high four assists and three steals.

Playing with just eight players in uniform due to injuries to guards Jonathan Bluitt (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Chris Riouse (Broken Arrow, Okla.), ORU (5-3) jumped out to a 16-4 lead, hitting six of its first eight shots from the field. But as has been the case in each game this season, ORU's offense stalled and allowed the Bears (0-10) back in the game.

After Ken Tutt's (Garland, Texas) short jumper gave ORU a 22-8 lead with 12:10 left in the first half, the Golden Eagles scored just one field goal over the next four-and-a-half minutes. And as ORU was cooling off, Northern Colorado's Sean Taibi was heating up.

Taibi scored UNC's final 13 points of the half. His 3-pointer with 3:05 to play pulled UNC within 33-31, the closest they had been since the opening basket. The Golden Eagles, though, managed a 40-34 halftime lead.

The Golden Eagles controlled the second half, leading by 7-10 points for much of the final 20 minutes until a late run gave ORU a cushion. Northern Colorado never got closer than 63-58 with 5:54 left to play. Following that basket, ORU went on a 9-2 to run to open up a 72-60 lead with 3:55 to play, effectively putting the contest out of reach.

Larry Owens (Mesa, Ariz.) enjoyed his second straight solid all-round performance for ORU, scoring 16 points with a career-high eight assists and five rebounds. Tutt added 14 points, three steals and two assists while Mickey Michalec (Skiatook, Okla.) and Marchello Vealy (Oklahoma City, Okla.) each scored 10.

Taibi finished with 20 points and Kirk Archibeque scored 19 for the Bears.

ORU returns to action at Louisiana-Lafayette. 7:05 p.m., Thursday.

--ORU--

[orumom]

http://www.orugoldeneagles.com/doc_lib/ ... 0Score.pdf

Box scores

[orumom]

Men's Basketball Drops 79-66 Decision to Oral Roberts

GREELEY, Colo. - The University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team fell behind early to a good Oral Roberts team, but was able to battle back before eventually coming out on the losing side of a 79-66 decision to the Golden Eagles on Sunday at the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.

Oral Roberts (5-3), who was in the NIT a year ago after winning 25 games, came out on fire, spurting to a 9-0 lead over Northern Colorado (0-10) and leading by as many as 14 (22- early in the first half. But showing a lot of heart, the Bears fought back, using a 22-8 run over the next eight minutes to trim the lead to 30-26. When Sean Taibi connected on a 3-pointer just 3:05 before halftime, the Bears trailed by only two.

A 3-pointer by Matt Kline at the 17:49 mark of the second half also made the lead two in ORU's favor, but UNC could get no closer. The Golden Eagles pounded the ball inside (they did not attempt a 3-pointer in the second half) and committed only seven turnovers while forcing the Bears into 10 second half miscues.

Taibi led the Bears with a season-high 20 points, 15 of which came in the first half. ORU made defensive adjustments in the second half that limited Northern Colorado to only 1-of-4 (25%) from 3-point range.

Kirk Archibeque had his second consecutive double-double of the year (and fifth of the season), netting 19 points (17 of which came in the second half) and 10 rebounds. He was 10-of-16 from the field.

Matt Kline, in starting his second consecutive game, had a career-high 10 assists.

Oral Roberts was led by 24 points from Caleb Green, who hit 7-of-15 from the field and 10-of-13 from the charity stripe. He was one of five ORU players in double figures, as Larry Owens (16), Ken Tutt (14), Mickey Michalec (10) and Marchello Vealy (10) also scored 10 or more points. The Golden Eagles were limited to only eight players due to injury and lost started Andrew Meloy to injury during the game.

ORU hit 51.9 percent (28-of-54) from the field for the game, while the Bears hit at a 46.4 percent clip.

Northern Colorado begins a four-game road trip before the Christmas break, a trip that starts on Wednesday night at the Pac 10's Oregon State (8 p.m. mountain time).

[tmh8286]

How 'bout this - we START the game with eight players, but have one foul out and one receive a game ending injury. We finished the game with only SIX PLAYERS!

Scott's gotta be especially GLAD to come out of that situation with a win.

[Bogus Smith]

I don't believe that there are any rules that keeps us from bringing one of the guys at the end of the bench out of their redshirt (except for Liberty, of course). Those guys are practicing and should be in game condition quickly, if needed.

[tmh8286]

If I remember correctly, that's what we did with Josh Atkinson - pulled him out of redshirt for the Valpo game that year, where he was ON FIRE! Major part of the home win against Valpo that year.

The problem with doing that, and I heard Coach Wojcek talk about this this weekend in regard to that question, is that a player has already given up a significant portion of the season at this point. Woj said that they would never do it because it would be unfair to the player.

I'd have to agree. You can't treat these guys in an opportunistic fashion. If they agree to redshirt at the beginning of the season, you must abide by that decision for the rest of the season. It's a risk a coaching staff takes. I suppose if both coach and player want to end a redshirt, it would be okay, but otherwise, in my opinion, you don't pull a kid out of redshirt.