INDIANAPOLIS - Sophomore Gary Patterson tied the IUPUI Division I record by hitting nine threes on Thursday, but Oral Roberts left The Jungle with the win, 83-73. Patterson hit 9-of-12 from three-point range to account for his game-high 27 points, while ORU was equally proficient from three-point range, hitting 10-of-14 (.714) as a team.
Caleb Green led the victors with 25 points, 14 rebounds and five assists while Moses Ehambe scored 22 points off the bench.
"If we didn't have Gary (Patterson) and Dave (Barlow) in there tonight, this would've gotten real, real ugly," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "Those two both played all 40 minutes tonight and showed a ton of heart.
"We just can't continue to dig ourselves in a big hole early and expect to come out of it."
The Jaguars found themselves in a 16-3 hole less than five minutes into the game, capped by five straight points from Ken Tutt. IUPUI responded with a brief 7-0 run before Ehambe got hot from beyond the arc. Ehambe hit treys on three of ORU's next four offensive trips to push the Golden Eagles' lead out to 27-12.
ORU (20-9, 12-1, Mid-Con) kept the lead in double-digits for most of the first half before taking a 48-33 lead into halftime.
Every time IUPUI (13-14, 6-7 Mid-Con) got within striking distance in the second half, ORU - and more specifically Green - had an answer. After a 15-3 run early in the second half cut the guests' lead back to five, Green ignited a 7-0 burst by freeing Ehambe up for an open three off a diagonal pass. He capped the run with a layup to make it 60-48 with 13:24 left.
After Ehambe's fifth trey of the game made it 74-62 with 6:56 remaining, IUPUI got back-to-back three-point trips to cut it to 74-68 with 5:38 left. Patterson splashed an open three after weaving through defenders on the right wing. Moments later, fellow sophomore Craig Swoope posted a conventional three-point play after he worked Tutt through a myriad of fakes and ball moves before dropping in a short bank shot over the smaller opponent while drawing a foul.
Green ended IUPUI's momentum at the other end by grabbing an offensive rebound off a Tutt miss and gaining a trip to the foul line.
IUPUI got back within six one last time on a David Barlow layup, but ORU scored the game's next six points to end any doubt.
As a team, Oral Roberts shot 56 percent from the floor and outscored the Jags 17-8 at the foul line. They also outrebounded the smaller Jags 33-30 and committed one less turnover (15-14) than the hosts.
Tutt finished with 17 points and six rebounds in the win.
Patterson contributed five assists to his 27 points, while junior Austin Montgomery had 14 points and five rebounds. Swoope had 10 points, four rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes off the bench and Barlow chipped in seven points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.
IUPUI hit a season-high 13 threes, while connecting at a 56.5 percent clip from distance. The Jags hit just 13-of-38 attempts inside the arc in the loss, thanks in part to eight ORU blocked shots.
"Their length and athleticism bothered us some, but we really needed to get more from our bigs," Hunter said. "We had some opportunities at the rim that we really needed to finish and just didn't get the job done.
"You can't waste opportunities against a good team like them."
Patterson's nine threes tied the school record for most in a single-game in the Division I era. Akeem Clark also hit nine treys in a win over East Tennessee State in the Rainbow Classic on Dec. 27, 2003. His nine treys tied for the ninth-most in a game by a Division I player this season and matched Tutt for the most by a Mid-Con player this year.
It was also his eighth consecutive game in double-digits since returning from a thumb injury.
IUPUI will conclude its regular season slate when it hosts Centenary College on Saturday night in a doubleheader in The Jungle. The men's game is slated to tip off at approximately 7:10 as the three seniors will be honored immediately before the contest.
