ORU Miracle Falls Short

Devon Ford made a baseline jumper with<br>16 seconds left in overtime and Idaho forced a turnover as time ran<br>out to beat Oral Roberts 71-70 in Friday's opening game of the<br>America's Youth

Friday, November 19th 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Devon Ford made a baseline jumper with
16 seconds left in overtime and Idaho forced a turnover as time ran
out to beat Oral Roberts 71-70 in Friday's opening game of the
America's Youth Classic.

The loss spoiled the coaching debut of Scott Sutton, who took
over at Oral Roberts after Barry Hinson left for the job at
Southwest Missouri State.

Sutton's father, Eddie, led No. 23 Oklahoma State against
Appalachian State in the late game.

Eric Perry's second 3-pointer of overtime gave Oral Roberts
(17-11 last year) a 70-69 lead with 1:06 to play. But Ford's third
basket of the extra period moved the Vandals (16-11 a year ago) in
front.

Perry got boxed in along the right side as the Golden Eagles
tried to get off a shot, and his pass got deflected as time ran
out.

The Vandals led 62-59 with 43 seconds left in regulation before
Reggie Tate made a short jumper to get ORU within one with 34
seconds remaining. Idaho missed four free throws in the final 18
seconds, which allowed the Golden Eagles to tie the game on a free
throw by Kyan Brown with 12 seconds left.

Clifford Gray had 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Kaniel Dickens
had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Vandals. Nathan Binam scored
18 and Leon Irving had 13 for Oral Roberts.