Top-Seeded Golden Eagles Sneak Out Of First Round

NewsOn6.com

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota – It might not have looked like a typical top seed vs. No. 8 seed matchup, but a win is a win.

The ORU Golden Eagles snuck out of the first round with a 71-67 victory against IPFW on Saturday, advancing to the semifinals of the Summit League tournament.

Top-seeded Oral Roberts came up with big free throws at the end of the game, holding off a rally from the Mastodons.

Coach Scott Sutton said this is the type of the year where teams might not play well but winning and advancing is all that matters.

"We are going to forget about this game and move on to the next one," he said. "I'm really proud of Rod (Pearson). I thought he hit unbelievable shots. He had to step up when Dominique went out and he did that and showed a lot of toughness. This team is amazing.

"We haven't always played well but we've won 27 games. They've always found a way to win."

ORU held several big leads in the game, including jumping out to a 9-0 run in the early going.

The Golden Eagles led by 13 shortly before half and by 10 with 15 minutes to play.

But IPFW rattled off a 14-4 run to knot the game at 50, and it was back and forth from there.

After a number of lead changes, ORU finally regained the lead for good on a 3-pointer from Roderick Pearson to make it 64-61.

With Dominique Morrison fouling out, several other Golden Eagles stepped up and took on the scoring load.

Warren Niles led ORU with 17, Michael Craion had 16 and Pearson added 15. Morrison had just 10 points in the game.

Oral Roberts moved to 27-5 on the year, which is the most wins in school history as a Division I team and the third most in school history at any level.

The Golden Eagles will take on the winner of the 4-5 matchup, which is North Dakota State and Western Illinois. Those two teams play Sunday evening.