Billbury Leads ORU To Triple Digit Victory Over UNO

The Oral Roberts men's basketball team hosted Omaha Wednesday night at the Mabee Center. The Golden Eagles outscored the Mavericks 102-86, becoming the first team in the conference to surpass the 100-point mark. With the win, ORU improved to 3-1 in conference, while UNO dropped to 1-4.

Omaha took the lead early, gaining a 5-0 advantage in the opening minutes of the game. ORU quickly picked it up on offense, only trailing by three after Obi Emegano hit a side-step three (with 15 minutes left of the half). Another three-pointer from Korey Billbury made it a two-point game.

The Golden Eagles then got hot, and went on an 11-3 run to steal the lead from Omaha. With ORU now controlling the game 26-23, Billbury knocked down his 13th bucket to extend the Golden Eagles' lead. At this point, Billbury was leading ORU in scoring (shooting 62 percent).

With eight minutes until the half, Omaha tied the game up 28-28, and then proceeded to regain the lead. The Mavericks' lead didn't last long. A couple of back-to-back free throw appearances from Emegano gave ORU a 32-28 lead.

With 6:05 on the clock, the Golden Eagles took its largest lead of the night when Bobby word hit one deep from behind the arc. After an ORU stop, Aaron Young drove up the middle and dumped the floater for two. Omaha's Marcus Tyus answered with a three, making that five deep ones for UNO.

ORU really set the tone when Billbury punched in the dunk with three seconds on the clock, escalating the Golden Eagles' lead 53-43 going into halftime. The ten point lead gave ORU its largest lead of the game, and its greatest number of points-scored in a half this season.

By halftime, Billbury led Oral Roberts in scoring with 18 points.

As a team, ORU was 19-34 from the field, 6-12 from the three, and 9-9 from the line. Omaha was 15-26 from the field, 5-8 from the three, and 8-10 from the line.

Opening up the second half, Oral Roberts ran the floor with intense momentum, scoring two back-to-back buckets from Emegano and Billbury. By the 14:53 mark, ORU had advanced its lead 72-57. The Golden Eagles were on a roll, as the team shutdown UNO on defense and continued to score on offense.

Nearing the end, Billbury led ORU with 30 points, and Emegano trailed with 23.

With only a few seconds left in the game, Word knocked down a deep three, helping ORU reach triple digits. ORU finished the game with a 102-86 victory over UNO.

The Golden Eagles return to action January 17, to take on IPFW in the Mabee Center at 7:00 p.m.