ORU Gets Career Performances But Still Falls

Shawn Glover and Korey Billbury each posted career scoring nights for Oral Roberts, but Northwestern State used a balanced attack to top the Golden Eagles 87-83 on Saturday afternoon at the Mabee Center.

Despite having 17 career 20-point games, including 13 this season, Glover had never topped the 30-point mark until tonight when the senior connected on 13 of his 20 shots en route to 32 points. Billbury nearly matched his previous career high (21) in the first half alone with 19 points, and finished the game with 29 points for the game.

ORU (10-10, 4-3 SLC) shot 50 percent from the field (28-56), hit six 3-pointeres and out-rebounded the Demons (7-11, 3-4 SLC) by one (34-33), but after grabbing a lead in the second half, the Demons hit big 3-pointers every time the Golden Eagles threatened.

Northwestern State was led by preseason all-conference selections Jalan West (18 points) and DeQuan Hicks (17 points). Brison White and Zikiteran Woodley also reached double figures with 16 and 10 points, respectively.

ORU had 16 turnovers in the game, but those turned into 25 NSU points.

After falling behind early, Glover scored all six points in a 6-2 run for the Golden Eagles to tie the game at 10-10.

The two teams traded baskets before the Demons strung together an 11-0 run to take a 25-14 lead as the first half crossed over the midway point.

Down 10 with 6:52 to play, ORU out-scored the Demons 22-10 for the rest of the half and opened up a five point lead with less than a minute to go. West finished the scoring the first half with a 3-pointer to make it 41-39 at the break.

The second half was a battle from the start and ORU grabbed as much as a three point lead (55-52) while Northwestern State held a four point lead (65-61) with nine minutes to play. It was the largest lead for either team to that point in the second half.

Just as it looked like the Demons would pull away, grabbing a 76-68 lead with less than six minutes to go, ORU mounted an 8-0 run to tie the game at 76-76. It was 3-pointers from Bobby Word and Billbury that helped the Golden Eagles close the gap.

Over the final 4:14 though, it was all Demons and they immediately pushed it back to a six point game after a pair of free throws from Hicks with 1:23 to go. Glover's 3-pointer 23 seconds later made it a one-possession game and ORU got the stop it needed on defense.

Nearing desperation time, Glover heaved up another trey in an attempt to tie the game but it came up short and the Golden Eagles fell at home for the fourth time this season.

ORU will head back on the road to face Nicholls State on Jan. 30 at 8 p.m.