Emegano's Late Heroics Lead ORU Past Tulsa In Mayor's Cup For Third Straight Year

Oral Roberts’ Obi Emegano broke a 68-68 tie with 01.9 seconds remaining to lift the Golden Eagles to a 70-68 victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in PSO Mayor’s Cup action Saturday afternoon as 5,225 fans watched from the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa’s Marquel Curtis’ layup with 1:10 remaining put Tulsa ahead 67-63. ORU responded on an Albert Owens put-back off a missed Emegano jumper, cutting the ORU deficit to two points, 67-65, at the 0:44 mark. The next time down the floor Owens’ connected on his first made three-pointer of the season in front of the ORU bench to put the Golden Eagles ahead by one point at 68-67 with 0:19 to play.

Tulsa’s Shaquille Harrison made 1-of-2 free throws to knot the score at 68 with 0:09 left on the clock, leaving Emegano to take the ball the length of the court for his game-winning jumper and game-high 26th point.

Harrison led the Hurricane with 18 points and eight rebounds, followed by 12 points each from James Woodard and Pat Birt. Tulsa shot only 38-percent from the field and 29-percent from three-point range while the Golden Eagles connected on 45-percent of its shots and 47-percent from behind the arc.

The lead changed hands five times in the second half with the game being tied also five times in the final 20 minutes. ORU took its first second-half lead at 46-45 on an Aaron Anderson layup and stretched its lead to 51-47 at the 12:12 mark. Tulsa tied the score at 51 one minute later on a jumper from Brandon Swannegan and a Harrison layup.

Tulsa took a 55-54 lead on a Harrison free throw with 9:34 remaining and kept the lead until Jalen Bradley’s three-pointer put ORU ahead 63-62 at the 3:08 mark. From there, Tulsa re-took the lead at the 1:55 mark on a Woodard three-pointer, followed by the Harrison free throw for the 67-63 lead before ORU’s late heroics.

Tulsa’s Rashad Smith opened the game with a three-pointer 26-seconds off the clock. ORU took a 7-5 lead, then after tying the score at 7-7, the Hurricane stretched its first-half lead to as many as eight points when Smith knocked through a layup to make the score 19-11 with 9:19 remaining in the first half.

Emegano connected on nine of the Golden Eagles’ next 11 points and trimmed the Tulsa lead to 23-22. Tulsa led the remainder of the first 20 minutes, as its’ lead fluctuated between one and six points. Pat Birt’s three-pointer with 0:59 left made the score 39-33, but Emegano scored on a jumper and two free throws to cut Tulsa’s lead at halftime to two points, 39-37.

Harrison had 10 points to lead Tulsa in the first half while Birt added nine points on three treys. ORU’s Omegano scored 17 first-half points to lead all scorers. Tulsa shot just 39-percent from the field and 29-percent from three-point range while ORU connected on 43-percent of its shots from the field and 50-percent from behind the arch.

Tulsa will be back at the Reynolds Center Tuesday night for a first-time meeting against the Iona Gaels. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. (CT).