Oral Roberts Blasts South Dakota

Oral Roberts continued its dominance of the Summit League Thursday with a 97-64 win over the South Dakota Coyotes, extending its win streak to 11 games in the process.

The Coyotes jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the first five minutes of the contest, but ORU would quickly respond and retake the lead. Over the next four minutes, the Golden Eagles outscored South Dakota 14-5, including four three-pointers from Mikey Manghum, to take a five-point advantage.

Two minutes later leading 26-18, Oral Roberts rattled off eight consecutive points, including another pair from behind the arc from Manghum, gave the Golden Eagles a 31-18 lead. Louie Krogman knocked down a jumper for the Coyotes, but ORU rattled off another six consecutive to take a 17-point lead with just six minutes left to play.

Holding a 15-point lead with 2:48 left to play, Oral Roberts snapped off seven unanswered, including yet another three-pointer, to take a 51-29 advantage with less than a minute to play in the half.

ORU picked up in the second half right where it left off, scoring the first seven points of the second half to take a 58-31 lead less than three minutes into the half. Six minutes later still holding a 23-point lead, the Golden Eagles poured it on with 17-unanswered points over a five-minute span to take an 86-46 led with less than seven minutes to play, essentially putting the game away.

Manghum was lights-out for ORU in the contest, scoring 18 points in the contest, all from behind the arc, while Michael Craion turned in a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds in the win. Steven Roundtree was not far behind, finishing with 17 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes.

Charlie Westbrook finished with a game-high 23 points and six rebounds in the loss, while Trevor Grius notched 11 points, but was the only other South Dakota player in double-figures.

Oral Roberts will now take two days off before capping off their home stand with a 7:05 p.m. matchup Saturday against UMKC.