Obi Emegano's 31-Point Game Leads ORU To First Road Win Of The Season

The Golden Eagles got its first road win of the season Tuesday night in Detroit. ORU's 77-73 overtime victory advanced the Golden Eagles to 6-7, while dropping the Titans to 7-7. Obi Emegano led ORU with a career-high 31 points. Korey Billbury trailed behind his teammate with 22, as the duo led the Golden Eagles to a win in the team's last non-conference game of the year.

Emegano started off hot, knocking down his first three shots. By the 10:53 mark, Detroit went on a 10-2 run to close the scoring gap, and make the contest a one point game, (ORU leading 13-12). The Golden Eagles answered the Titans' run by scoring seven consecutive points, including a three-point play by Billbury.

With 5:14 to go in the half, the Titans had cut ORU's lead to three, (22-19). Billbury, who's been struggling with free throws lately, hit two critical ones in the final minutes of the half.

Going into halftime ORU controlled the game, leading 31-25. At this point Emegano led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 12 points, and Billbury was right behind him with 11. The team shot 42 percent from the field, and went 7-7 from the line. Billbury was the only Golden Eagles' player to attempt free throws, hitting all seven. Albert Owens contributed seven rebounds, leading ORU in that category.

Going into the second, ORU expanded its lead. A pull-up three from Billbury got the team its largest lead of the game, (39-29). With 5:53 left to play, the Golden Eagles kept extending its lead to ten, but couldn't escalate past that. Detroit would not give up, as the team ran the floor, cutting ORU's lead to four with 1:03 to go. In the final seconds of the game, the Titans sank a three causing the game to go into overtime.

The game went back-and-forth in overtime, until Billbury hit a major three-pointer, advancing the Golden Eagles to a three-point lead, (71-68). ORU managed to hold on to its lead, taking the 77-73 victory over Detroit.

After the game, ORU head coach Scott Sutton said, “We have to do a better job of closing out games.” He elaborated on how his team allowed Detroit to make its way to the basket too easy. Despite that, he also stated that he was proud of how his team handled overtime. “It was a heck of a win,” said Sutton.

The Golden Eagles will take the floor again January 2, 2015, in Fargo to take on North Dakota State. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m.