ORU Claws Back Against IPFW To Claim Summit League Title

The Oral Roberts men's basketball team claimed the 2012 Summit League Championship Wednesday night with a 75-71 comeback win over IPFW.

"That was a great win, great win," said ORU head coach Scott Sutton. "I thought our guys really battled in the second half. Guys made clutch plays and found a way to win. I am really proud of them and really proud to win this championship outright."

The Golden Eagles (24-5, 16-1) overcame multiple nine-point deficits to climb back into the game thanks to a 6-0 run that would put ORU up 62-60 and propel them to the win.

ORU started the game slow shooting only 16.2 percent from the field which led to an early 10-2 deficit in the first five minutes of play.

Warren Niles led the charge for the Golden Eagles to put them back in the game scoring six points during ORU's 8-0 run to tie the game at 10.

The Golden Eagles took its first lead of the game at 27-25, but the Mastodons refused to back down, especially as the teams found the bonus and IPFW went 10-for-10 from the free throw line.

Midway through the game, ORU trailed 36-33. The Golden Eagles had nine turnovers in the first and shot 42 percent from the field.

"At halftime I was disappointed in our guys," said Sutton. "I thought we got out outplayed, out toughed."

The struggles continued out of the break for ORU after they missed multiple point blank layups, but that wouldn't last long.

Niles matched with Steven Roundtree and Michael Craion all combined for a handful of clutch plays and posessions to get the Golden Eagles back into the game.

Dominique Morrison hit his third field goal of the game to make it 62-60 with 5:15 to go, then Craion netted a bucket with 31 seconds left to give ORU a 70-66 lead.

The teams traded free throws before Gaines hit a 3-pointer to pull IPFW within 72-71 with 15 seconds to play.

Craion then blocked a shot in the final seconds to seal the victory for the Golden Eagles who outscored IPFW 9-6 in the final 1:30 of play.

Niles led all Golden Eagle scorers with 24 points and five rebounds while Roundtree added 19 and Craion finished with 16.

ORU has won 17 of their past 18 games while the Mastodons (10-16, 4-12) lost their sixth straight.

IPFW's Frank Gaines scored 34 to lead all scorers as the Mastodons shot 47 percent on the night.

Oral Roberts made 25-of-52 from the field for 48 percent and despite 17 turnovers managed to take care of the ball and sink their late-game free throws to win the game.

The Golden Eagles return to action Saturday hosting Akron at 1 p.m.