Tutt's absence felt in loss - Tulsa World (1-10-2006)

[ORUTerry]

Tutt's absence felt in loss

By Staff Reports

1/10/2006

Valparaiso's hot hands help it defeat ORU by 20 points.

VALPARAISO, Ind. -- With their best outside shooter grounded, the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles didn't fly far.

Unable to count on scoring from any range, they looked like men playing basketball with one armed tied behind their backs.

Valparaiso had no such trouble. The Crusaders shot over 50 percent for much of the game and rolled to an 80-60 win Monday night, knocking ORU from the Mid-Continent Conference unbeaten ranks.

With junior guard Ken Tutt sidelined back in Tulsa with an injured foot, the Eagles shot 34 percent overall (18-of-53) and 4-of-17 from 3-point range, compared to Valpo's 8-of-15.

The Crusaders pulled into a 2-3 zone surrounding Caleb Green and dared ORU's guards to shoot from the perimeter. They couldn't.

Green, the Mid-Con's leading scorer, poured in 25 points, his fifth straight game with 20 or more, and fouled out two Crusaders, setting ORU's Division I record for foul shots attempted (21) and tying the record for made free throws (17). He also had seven rebounds, missing a double-double for only the second time in eight games.

But he didn't receive much offensive help. Larry Owens was the only other Eagle to score in double figures, with 12 points. Next was sophomore reserve Moses Ehambe's six points on two treys.

"They were going to make somebody besides Caleb beat them and we didn't have anbody who could," said ORU coach Scott Sutton. "Our guards were atrocious shooting the ball, and we got where we couldn't make free throws at the wrong times, and then we had some turnovers, and all of a sudden it was a 15- or 16-point game."

ORU erased an early 10-2 deficit with a 13-4 run and led 16-13 before Valpo raced back on top. It was 21-20 with under 10 minutes left in the first half, but ORU turnovers gave the Crusaders two easy baskets and triggered a 14-0 run that produced a 35-20 deficit.

The Eagles whittled it down to 38-28 at halftime, but Valpo ran off the first nine points of the second half and it was 47-28. ORU rallied again. Green made 7-of-8 from the line and Owens gave the Eagles their first field goal of the half, nailing a 3-pointer with 13:47 left.

The lead shrank to nine and could have been six with over 11 minutes left, but the Eagles missed two 3-pointers and Valpo ran the margin back to 61-45.

Senior forward Dan Oppland, the Mid-Con's third-leading scorer, had 23 points and 11 rebounds and Ron Howard scored 19, pacing four Crusaders in double figures.

Valpo (9-4, 3-1) pulled even with ORU (8-8, 3-1) in the standings and the Eagles fell out of a first-place tie. Indiana-Purdue, 3-0 in league play, visits the Mabee Center for ORU's homecoming Saturday. Missouri-Kansas City defeated Western Illinois on Monday night and improved to 4-1.

Tutt, who has made 218 career 3-pointers, injured his foot in Saturday's win over Western Illinois and is expected to miss six weeks.

"When Ken's out there, (other teams) have to guard him and pay a lot of attention to where he is. They can't focus on Caleb. I don't think (Valparaiso) could have set in their zone and been as effective as they were," Sutton said.

Tutt was also a veteran who had started every game since arriving on campus two years ago. Forced into more playing time, Ehambe and Yemi Ogunoye combined to score 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting.

"Valpo had a nice crowd, they were ready to play and it was a tough game for some of these young guys to have to come in and step up their games," Sutton said.

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Valparaiso 80, ORU 60

Oral Roberts (8-8, 3-1 MCC) Reb

FG 3pt FT O T F Pt A T B S M

Owens,f 4-8 1-2 3-4 2 7 4 12 4 1 2 2 40

Green,f 4-12 0-1 17-21 5 7 4 25 3 4 0 0 40

Michalec,c 1-6 0-0 0-1 2 8 1 2 0 3 1 0 27

Bluitt, g 1-8 0-5 0-0 0 1 2 2 2 3 0 3 29

Ogunoye 2-5 0-1 0-2 0 4 0 4 0 0 1 0 27

Vealy 2-4 0-1 0-0 1 2 2 4 1 0 0 0 11

Ehambe 2-7 2-6 0-0 0 0 2 6 0 1 0 0 15

Fowlkes 2-3 1-1 0-0 0 0 2 5 4 0 0 0 11

TEAM 2 5

Totals 18-53 4-17 20-28 12 34 17 60 14 12 4 5

FG% 1H: 10-28 35.7% 2H: 8-25 32.0% Game: 34.0%

3Pt% 1H: 1-6 16.7% 2H: 3-11 27.3% Game: 23.5%

FT% 1H: 7-13 53.8% 2H: 13-15 86.7% Game: 71.4%

Valparaiso (9-4, 3-1 MCC) Reb

FG 3pt FT O T F Pt A T B S M

Howard,f 7-16 1-2 4-6 1 3 0 19 3 5 0 3 37

Oppland,f 9-18 2-7 3-4 2 11 4 23 4 0 1 0 34

Kone,c 1-3 0-0 2-2 1 3 5 4 1 0 3 1 19

Colclasure,g 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 14

Loyd,g 5-9 2-2 0-0 0 4 1 12 3 2 0 0 31

Igbavboa 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2

Mbaye 0-1 0-0 1-2 3 7 5 1 0 0 0 1 12

Berdiel 4-5 2-2 0-1 1 3 2 10 3 1 1 0 26

Huff 2-6 1-2 4-4 0 3 2 9 0 1 0 0 25

TEAM 2 5

Totals 29-59 8-15 14-19 10 39 21 80 14 9 5 5

FG% 1H: 14-30 46.7% 2H: 15-29 51.7% Game: 49.2%

3Pt% 1H: 4-7 57.1% 2H: 4-8 50.0% Game: 53.3%

FT% 1H: 6-8 75.0% 2H: 8-11 72.7% Game: 73.7%

Oral Roberts 28 32 -- 60

Valparaiso 38 42 -- 80

Technicals: None.

Attendance: 4,561

LEGEND: Rebounds (Offensive; Total); Fouls; Assists; Turnovers; Blocks; Steals; Minutes played.

[ORUIsbig]

"said ORU coach Scott Sutton. "Our guards were atrocious shooting the ball,"

Coach,

Which guards would those be???

Owens - the sf/pg would handled the ball most of the game?

Michalic - our 6'11" pg/center?

Fowlkes - our pg/sf who was 2-3 and 1-1 from 3 in 11 MINUTES

Yemi - our 6'9" pg/pf

Maybe he mean Moses our pg/sf, who played 15 minute, 5 in the 2nd half. and shot 30% from 3pt.

I don't understand how coach criticizes the players when

1. didn't have any shooters except for Ehambe

2. Didn't play Ehambe or fowlkes even 50 percent of the time

3. Yemi hasnt been a scorer all year. He has no shot, he is there for D.

Coach, if you played your "guards" you may have had better shooting. STop blaming the players for everything. Good coaches find a way.

[ORUHomer]

Isbig...PREACH!! Can I get a witness? You left out JB, who, in my opinion, should've been pulled MUCH SOONER than he was in favor of Fowlkes.

What is the age-old definition of insanity? Trying the same things but expecting different results. And what happens when what you are trying doesn't seem to work? We try HARDER, right? (still doing the wrong thing).

I'm not sure that replacing JB with Fowlkes is the long-term solution, but it was certainly the solution for last night. Sometimes a player is having an off night (take JB for instance). When you're down 15-20 you don't really have the luxury of hoping he suddenly "catches fire." YOU'RE DOWN 15+ POINTS. It's not like it could get much worse by trying something different, you are already going to lose unless something changes.

There are some great posts on the board today that have helped me to put last night's game in perspective. Reading them was good therapy and save me lots of money. Nevertheless, the above-mentioned comment I simply had to get off my chest. Thank you for understanding. GO GOLDEN EAGLES!!