Western Illinois Knocks ORU Out Of Summit League Tournament

NewsOn6.com

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota – All the Golden Eagles can do now is sit and wait, but Monday night certainly does not help their resume.

It took a bizarre, slow-paced game to do it, but the Western Illinois Leathernecks knocked off top-seeded ORU 54-53 on Monday, ending the Golden Eagles' short-lived Summit League run.

Most believed that Oral Roberts would have to win the Summit League Tournament and receive the league's automatic bid in order to make the NCAA Tournament.

Some believed that ORU would still have an outside shot at an at-large bid if they lost in the Summit League Championship game.

But the tough loss in the semifinals delivers a crushing blow to those chances.

A jumper from Terell Parks with 26 seconds to play would prove to be the difference maker for the Leathernecks.

In ORU's chance to take the lead, Michael Craion ended up turning the ball over. ORU had one more chance at the very end but lost control of the ball in the end and the Golden Eagles couldn't hoist up a final shot.

It was certainly a strange game, to say the least. The low score wasn't necessarily attributed to poor shooting, as WIU shot 49 percent and Oral Roberts shot 42 percent.

Instead, neither team even attempted very many shots in the game, with the Golden Eagles only putting up 48 and Western Illinois only putting up 41 shots in the game.

Numerous ties and lead changes throughout the first half showed Oral Roberts it was in for a tough night. Western Illinois led 27-26 at the end of the first half.

With eight minutes remaining, the Golden Eagles actually managed to get up 51-43 on a jumper from Warren Niles, which seemed like an insurmountable lead the way the game was going.

But that would actually be Oral Roberts' final field goal of the game.

WIU outscored it 11-2 over the final seven minutes of the contest.

Dominique Morrison was the only ORU player able to get anything going offensively, scoring 23 points. Niles was the only other Golden Eagle in double figures with 11.

Terell Parks led WIU with 14 and former Edmond Memorial forward Obi Emegano added eight for the Leathernecks.