Oral Roberts Men Beat Rice in Final Seconds

Rice eliminated a 16-point deficit, but Dominique Morrison hit a game-winner jumper with three seconds left.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:06 pm

By: News On 6

Oral Roberts Men Beat Rice in Final Seconds

Originally Published: Dec 23, 2010 7:34 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

LAS VEGAS – Dominique Morrison hit a jumper with three seconds left Thursday to give Oral Roberts an 80-78 win over Rice and avoid a three-game sweep at the Las Vegas Classic.

The Golden Eagles (5-8) never trailed and led by as much as 16 points in the second half, but Rice (6-6) went on a 15-3 run to make things interesting. The Owls managed to tie the game four different times in the closing minutes, but ORU responded every time.

The final tie came thanks to Connor Frizzelle’s jumper with 22 seconds left. Oral Roberts milked the clock on the following possession and left Morrison with his chance to hit the game winner.

Morrison finished with 18 points and was one of four ORU players to score at least 15 points. Damen Bell-Holter led the way with 22, Warren Niles scored 16 and Steven Roundtree added 15.

Much like ORU, Rice’s scoring was also dominated by four players. Tamir Jackson led the Owls with a game-high 25 points, Arsalan Kazemi scored 20, Frizzelle had 15 and Trey Stanton had 12.

Thursday marked the Golden Eagles’ third game in as many days, and their first win. They broke a four-game losing streak, and next will host IPFW at 7 p.m. Tuesday.