Oral Roberts 86, UMKC 79

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Caleb Green scored 22 points as Oral Roberts held on to beat Missouri-Kansas City 86-79 on Thursday night. <br/><br/>Green, who was 5-of-7 from the field and 12-of-17 from the free-throw

Thursday, February 16th 2006, 10:24 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Caleb Green scored 22 points as Oral Roberts held on to beat Missouri-Kansas City 86-79 on Thursday night.

Green, who was 5-of-7 from the field and 12-of-17 from the free-throw line, also had nine rebounds. Larry Owens added 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Golden Eagles (16-10, 11-3), who clinched the No. 2 seed in the Mid-Continent Conference Tournament. ORU's Jonathan Bluitt had 17 points and seven assists.

Quinton Day scored 26 of his game-high 27 points in the second half as UMKC (11-13, 8-5) cut its deficit from 64-43 to seven on three occasions.

ORU was leading 65-47 with 12:01 left when center Mickey Michalec, who had 12 points, was disqualified from the game. Michalec was called for his fourth foul plus a technical after shoving Dee Ayuba, who also received a technical.

The Kangaroos responded with a 20-9 run that included eight points from Day, whose trey with 4:41 remaining made it 74-67.

UMKC, however, would not get any closer. On the next ORU possession, Green made his first free throw and missed his second, but Owens rebounded and dunked for a 77-67 lead.

ORU, which outrebounded UMKC 36-31, swept the two-game season series. The Golden Eagles shot 55 percent from the field compared to 51 percent for UMKC.