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TULSA, Okla. - Oral Roberts got 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting from Moses Ehambe and came up with the big plays down the stretch to outlast IUPUI 71-64 in The Summit League championship game on Tuesday night at John Q. Hammons Arena at the UMAC. With the win, ORU (24-8) earned a spot in the upcoming NCAA Tournament while IUPUI (26-7) will now wait by the phone for either the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) or first-ever College Basketball Invitational Tournament (CBIT) to call.
"I'm really proud of my kids," IUPUI head coach Ron Hunter said. "We didn't play our best basketball tonight and (ORU) played really well - probably the best I've seen them."
IUPUI took a two-point lead with 4:21 to play when Summit League Player of the Year
George Hill splashed his fourth trey of the night. Unfortunately, the Jags would can just three field goals over the final four minutes and ORU's Robert Jarvis fired a pair of daggers. The first was a wide open 15-footer with 2:20 left, giving the Golden Eagles a 61-57 lead. Hill responded with an athletic drive through the middle, making it 61-59 with 2:02 left.
Jarvis, who had been hampered by a high ankle sprain for the past three weeks, swished a three from the right corner, making it 64-59 with 97 seconds left. The Jags got no closer than five the rest of the way and ORU sank seven free throws down the stretch.
Hill, who was voted to the All-Tournament team, scored 24 points on just 8-of-21 shooting. Senior
Austin Montgomery added 16 on 6-of-11 shooting and
Gary Patterson scored 14. The Jags finished the night shooting just 41.5 percent and were outrebounded 37-29 by the taller Golden Eagles while ORU finished the night at 47.2 percent. The Golden Eagles hit 13-of-23 shots in the second half.
"You have to tip your cap to (Oral Roberts), they made shots when they had to. They're an experienced team," Hunter said. "We haven't been in the (conference) championship game since 2004 and none of our kids have ever played in one."
IUPUI's relative inexperience showed in the first half.
After Hill opened the game with a tough step back three on IUPUI's first offensive possesion, the Jags seemingly went cold. Oral Roberts reeled off a 12-1 run that included a Moses Ehambe trey and a Marcus Lewis old fashioned three-point play.
Hill stopped the bleeding with a runner off the glass, but that would be his final field goal of the first half.
His teammates - namely Patterson and Montgomery - picked up the slack from there. Patterson fueled a modest 6-0 run to make it 18-14 with 9:41 left. IUPUI pulled within three on a Montgomery jumper before ORU extended the lead back out to 31-27 by halftime.
The Golden Eagles outrebounded the Jaguars 21-10 in the first half, grabbing 10 of their own misses.
Jarvis scored 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting and Shawn King added 10 points and eight rebounds. Lewis chipped in seven points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes work.
Hunter's squad has already rolled up a program record 26 wins and clinched the school's single-season winning percentage record.
"I told my seniors that we haven't played our last basketball game and I really believe that," Hunter said. "Everybody always talks about student-athlete welfare and this is a perfect opportunity for the NCAA to reward our guys for this season. We've done everything that could be asked of us and our guys should be rewarded."
