Everything goes right for Eagles

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Everything goes right for Eagles

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

2/3/2006

Reserves contribute, starters excel in win over Thunderbirds.

Every man who suited up contributed to another runaway Oral Roberts University basketball win Thursday night. It made injured guard Ken Tutt smile more than once.

"I have to be for my teammates. Everyone who came in played well," Tutt said.

Four players scored in double figures, and the Golden Eagles received 42 points off the bench in dispatching Southern Utah 89-57 before an announced crowd of 5,929 at the Mabee Center.

Freshman forward Marchello Vealy scored a season-high 12 points and tied a season high with nine rebounds. Chris Riouse and Moses Ehambe combined to make five 3-pointers, and Andrew Meloy was back to hustling on both ends of the floor, as he did in sparking last year's team down the stretch.

And that's not even ORU's starters. Caleb Green scored 18 points with six rebounds, and Larry Owens had 14 points and 10 rebounds, notching his second double-double.

It looked like the team coach Scott Sutton thought the Eagles could be all along but haven't been for reasons having mostly to do with injuries and a difficult schedule.

"I saw this team in October and November, but then we had injuries and hit a stretch of our schedule where we couldn't ever get back to playing the way this team is capable of playing," Sutton said.

"We've played seven games without Ken, and Chris and Moses are playing with a great deal of confidence. We've adjusted to playing without him, and this is the team I thought we'd have. Every season you go through some adversity, but I really thought this team would peak and be playing its best basketball at the right time. I think we're doing that."

Was the deflating loss at Western Illinois a turning point? Since then, the Eagles have won three straight by wide margins. Thursday's 32-point margin was ORU's largest in conference play in four years.

"With Ken out, everybody had to step up," said Riouse, who scored 11 points. "We want to get Ken back, but it gave people a lot of minutes and made us a well-rounded team."

Southern Utah had shot 53 percent over its last nine games, but the Eagles forced 14 first-half turnovers, crushed the Thunderbirds on the boards and took them out of their game.

Southern stayed close for eight minutes, and then a 3-pointer by Riouse lit the fuse on a 33-8 run that gave the Eagles a 47-20 lead at halftime. The Thunderbirds rallied to make it a 20-point deficit, and then the Eagles ran away to lead by as many as 34.

ORU shot 49.3 percent while holding Southern to 40.8. The Eagles (13-9, 8-2) won their eighth straight over the Thunderbirds, ending Southern Utah's three-game conference winning streak, its longest in four years.

After whippping Missouri-Kansas City on the boards (50-29) last Monday night, the Eagles whipped Southern Utah 44-24. Almost half the Eagles' rebounds (21) came on the offensive end, including six from the 6-foot-7 Vealy, who seemed as comfortable as he has at any time in his brief college career.

"(Vealy) keeps getting better and better," Sutton said. "I thought he was very bouncy tonight. He finished a lot of shots that he's been missing, and I think he's showing some glimpses of what type of player he can be."

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ORU Notebook: Tutt update

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

2/3/2006

Junior guard Ken Tutt will have the boot removed from his injured right foot Friday and could be cleared to practice as early as Wednesday, trainer Glenn Smith said.

Smith said it is highly unlikely that Tutt would be in uniform for the Eagles' crucial conference road trip next week to Oakland (Thursday) and Indiana-Purdue (Saturday).

After the road trip, the Eagles will have four regular-season games -- Missouri-Kansas City (Feb. 16), at Montana (Feb. 18 ), at Centenary (Feb. 23) and Valparaiso (Feb. 25).

A pin was placed in Tutt's fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot after he sustained a stress fracture against Western Illinois on Jan. 7.

Back in play: Andrew Meloy played only his second game since injuring his knee Dec. 11 at Northern Colorado. His five points were a season high and his four rebounds tied a season high.

Make his day: Mickey Michalec celebrated ORU's bandanna promotion for the senior center by scoring the first Eagles' basket of each half. He finished with six points, two rebounds and two assists. Bandannas with Michalec's picture were given to the first 2,500 fans.

Helping hand: ORU guard Jonathan Bluitt took over 10th place in Mid-Con career assists with

two against Southern Utah, giving him 465. Frank Nardi of Wisconsin-Green Bay (1984-88 ) is ninth with 471.

Hall inductees: ORU will induct four new members into its Athletics Hall of Fame during halftime ceremonies. They are women's basketball player Krista Ragan-Binam (1997-2002), golfers Jim Kane and Bryan Norton (1978-81) and baseball player Tom Nieto (1981).

Fast breaks: ORU players have missed 29 games with injuries this season. . . . The bench averages 22 points in conference play.

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ORU hall is missing Trickey

By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer

2/3/2006

A fresh batch of folks will be inducted into the athletic halls of fame at the University of Tulsa and Oral Roberts University this weekend. Congratulations, and it's time to correct an oversight.

Former men's basketball coach Ken Trickey is not in the ORU Athletic Hall of Fame and that's a colossal shame.

All Trickey did was win more games than any basketball coach in school history and, eight years after ORU launched varsity basketball, he had the Titans within an eyelash of a Final Four appearance. They lost an overtime Elite Eight game to Kansas in 1974.

Trickey served two tours of duty as ORU's head coach. He was 118-23 in his first stint and none of his first five teams averaged fewer than 93.0 points per game. Trickey went against the grain often (he was more of a maverick than Dirk Nowitzki or James Garner) and his campaign to drop ORU from the NCAA to NAIA during a second stint at the school ruffled feathers.

But if anybody deserves to be in ORU's athletic hall of fame, it's the guy who put the Titans on the map.

ORU's hall is populated with former athletes rather than former coaches. But when it's time for the Golden Eagles to again remember the Titans, how about remembering Trickey?