ORU Drops Tight Game To IPFW

The Oral Roberts men's basketball team led by as many as 13 and led for more than 27 minutes in the game, but went cold down the stretch and could not hold off IPFW as the Golden Eagles fell 68-63 Thursday night.

IPFW used a 10-0 run with less than six minutes to go to take a three point lead after trailing by seven.

Obi Emegano scored 27 points in the game, 20 of which came in the first half as ORU opened up a 36-27 lead at the break. Darian Harris led ORU on the boards with 10 rebounds, a career high and his first double-digit rebounding effort.

Max Landis led all scorers with 28 points, while John Konchar had 16 points and 14 rebounds.  

Turning Point
A dunk by Albert Owens put ORU up seven with 5:55 to go, but the Mastodons went on a 10-0 run to take a late lead and ORU could not get back on top.

Quote of the Game
"You've got to give IPFW credit, there's a reason they have won 17 games. Their guys made plays down the stretch and we didn't. I thought we did a lot of really good things, especially in the first half. Our defensive intensity was much better, we were engaged and we played defense played like I envisioned this team being able to play. It's hard to imagine this team shooting as poorly as we did, especially at home." – Coach Scott Sutton

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Emegano scored 27 points and Harris grabbed 10 rebounds. No Golden Eagle had more than two assists.
IPFW: Landis led all scorers with 28 points, Konchar grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and Landis also led the Mastodons in assists with five.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot just 33 percent (21-63) from the field, the first time since January 2015 in which ORU has shot less than 35 percent from the field. It was the lowest field goal percentage at home since February 12, 2009 against Western Illinois.

- IPFW shot 40 percent (22-54) for the game.

- Both teams hit 16 free throws. ORU did so on 20 attempts, while IPFW got to the line 26 times.

- ORU held advantages in points in the paint (24-18), points off turnovers (10-8) and bench points (23-11). IPFW out-scored ORU 12-4 on the fast break.

- ORU held a 42-41 advantage in rebounds and had 10 turnovers, including just one in the first half.

News and Notes
- With one block in the game, Brandon Conley moved into a tie with Ray Thompson for ninth on the all-time blocks list at ORU with 88 career swats.

- Harris set a new career high with 10 rebounds. He is the third player this year to record 10 rebounds in a game.

Up Next
ORU will have Saturday off before returning to the court next Thursday at North Dakota State for a 7 p.m. tip off in Fargo, North Dakota. The contest between the Golden Eagles and Bison will be televised on MidCoSN and will also be available on ESPN3.