Oral Roberts Overcomes Big Deficit but Falls in Overtime

Originally Published: Jan 14, 2010 8:37 PM CDT

Andrew Topps
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS -- Oral Roberts dug itself out of a 20 point deficit to force overtime but the Golden Eagles fell in the extra frame 90-87 against IUPUI.

ORU (9-9, 4-3) led 2-0 early but that was the only lead of the first half for the Golden Eagles, who trailed 45-25 with 90 seconds remaining in the first half. The Jaguars (12-7, 5-1) took a 45-29 lead into halftime.

The Golden Eagles were able to close the gap on runs of 9-3 and 6-0 in the second half. ORU tied the contest 73-73 with 4:08 left in the game. Tied at 79-79, the Eagles’ Warren Niles had a chance to add to his career night, but missed a jumper with 16 seconds remaining.

Dominique Morrison opened overtime by hitting a 3-pointer to put ORU on top 82-79. But IUPUI went on a 6-0 to keep the distance over the Golden Eagles.

Niles finished with a career-high 39 points. The freshman went 5-of-10 from 3-point range. Morrison chipped-in 16; Michael Craion had 15 points while Kevin Ford finished with 14 points going along with eight rebounds.

Robert Glenn led the Jaguars with 25 points and Joe Avery came off the bench to add 20.