Oral Roberts Claims Mayor's Cup Win Over Tulsa

In the Annual PSO Mayors' Cup game between city rivals Tulsa and Oral Roberts, the visiting Golden Eagles claimed a 74-68 victory over the Hurricane in front of 6,160 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

The Golden Eagles snapped a four-game losing streak against the Hurricane in the PSO Mayor's Cup game. Tulsa leads the series 32-17.

ORU's second chance points and Tulsa's poor free throw shooting doomed the Hurricane. The Golden Eagles had the advantage in second chance points 16 to 3, while out-rebounding Tulsa 45-28. The Hurricane converted on just 17-of-36 free throws for 47.2-percent, while ORU connected on 78.4-percent from the line, nailing 29-of-37 freebies. Tulsa outscored ORU from the floor converting 50-percent of its shots, 25-of-50, as the Golden Eagles made 22-of-57 for 38.6 percent.

Obi Emegano led four double-figure scorers for Golden Eagles with 19 points, including 13-of-14 from the free throw line, while Shawn Glover added 16, Korey Billbury 13 and D.J. Jackson 11 points.

For Tulsa, sophomores Rashad Smith and Shaquille Harrison scored 19 and 18 points, respectively, to lead the Hurricane.

After trailing 30-27 at halftime, Tulsa tied the score 35-35 at the 15:37 mark of the second half on a Rashad Ray free throw, however, ORU scored the next eight points to take a 43-35 lead with 11:23 remaining in the contest.

The Hurricane knocked down six straight free throws to cut the ORU lead to 45-41. Shaquille Harrison's layup at the 8:59 mark brought Tulsa to within two points, 45-43.

Pat Swilling knocked down Tulsa's only three-pointer at the 7:53 mark trimming the ORU lead to three points, 49-46. A layup by ORU's Glover 34 seconds later pushed the Golden Eagles lead to five points at 51-46.

With 5:29 on the game clock, Harrison's jumper and free throw gave Tulsa its first lead since 12:03 of the first half at 54-53. The score was tied three more times before ORU's Billbury's layup at the 3:34 mark put the Golden Eagles up for good. ORU connected on 10-of-14 free throws in the final minute to hold the lead and grab the six-point victory.

At the start, the game went back-and-forth for nearly the first 10 minutes as the lead changed hands eight times. ORU took a 17-16 lead on a Drew Wilson layup with 10:11 left in the first half and kept the lead through the first half.

The Golden Eagles built its first-half lead to seven points, 25-18, on a Billbury free throw. Tulsa's Marquel Curtis hit a layup with 0:15 left on the first-half clock cut the lead to three points, as the first 20 minutes ended with the visiting Golden Eagles leading 30-27.

Tulsa's Smith led all first-half scorers with 12 points, while ORU's Billbury and Emegano had seven points apiece.

ORU dominated the boards in the first half, grabbing 25 rebounds, including 13 on the offensive side to just 11 total rebounds for the Hurricane. Both teams went the first 20 minutes without hitting a three-pointer. Tulsa had 18 points in the paint, but the Eagles scored 11 second chance points to Tulsa's zero.

Tulsa travels to Missouri State next Saturday for a 7:05 pm game and returns home for a Wednesday, Nov. 20th contest against 2013 NCAA Final Four participant Wichita State.