ORU Men Trounce New Orleans

The Oral Roberts men's basketball team led from wire to wire on Thursday night as the Golden Eagles dominated New Orleans in a 79-59 win at the Mabee Center. The win for ORU (11-12, 5-5 SLC) snapped a four-game losing skid, while ending UNO's (8-10, 5-5) three game winning streak.

ORU got a double-double from Korey Billbury (21 points, 14 rebounds), as ORU out-rebounded the Privateers 41-29 for the game. Billbury also added a team-high seven assists, leaving him just three assists shy of the elusive triple-double. Shawn Glover also neared the prestigious mark with 27 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks, one off the school record for blocks in a game. Glover moved into ninth at ORU in career blocks with the performance. The offensive attack was capped by 11 points from Brandon Conley and 10 from Bobby Word.

ORU finished the game 50 percent (33-66) from the field, but set a season watermark for blocks with 10 and tied a season high with 17 assists.

Christavious Gill (12 points) and James Harrison (10 points) led the Privateers, who got at least a point from 10 different players. The Privateers shot 40 percent (20-49) from the field and 50 percent (6-12) from 3-point range in the loss.

It was all ORU from the beginning as the Golden Eagles overcame a sub-par shooting first half (41 percent) by playing great defense. ORU forced 14 UNO turnovers in the first half alone and out-rebounded the Privateers 24-15. Those hustle plays turned into a 14-6 advantage in points in the paint and a 14-2 edge in points off turnovers.

ORU grabbed as much as a 17-point lead after a 16-3 run late in the first half. That run was well timed after Gill had scored five-straight for UNO and combined with a 3-pointer by Harrison to make it a four point game (18-14) after an 8-3 spurt of their own.

After ORU took the 34-17 lead, the Privateers scored the final three points of the half to make it 34-20 at the break.

ORU didn't miss a step coming out of the locker room and a 7-1 start gave the Golden Eagles a 41-21 lead, less than two minutes into the half.

The lead swelled to as many as 22 early in the second half before a mini-spurt by the Privateers got the back to within 16 with 10:50 to play.

Adrion Webber sparked an 8-1 ORU run to push the lead back over 20 and it didn't get below that threshold for the remainder of the game.

ORU will remain at home for the 2014 ORU Homecoming Game, which will feature the Golden Eagles against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday at 7 p.m. from the Mabee Center.