Golden Eagles extend home winning streak to 18 games

TULSA — After trailing the majority of the night, the Oral Roberts University men’s basketball team came back to defeat the Southwestern Athletic Conference favorite Texas Southern Tigers 65-63 on Nov. 21 at the ORU Mabee Center on Native American Appreciation Night.

ORU extended its home win streak to 18 after a close battle with the Tigers (05), in front of a crowd just shy of 6,000.

Issac McBride led all scorers with 23 points on the night for his third straight 20-plus point outing. McBride was accompanied by Jailen Bedford who had a career high 14 points and DeShang Weaver who added 13. Weaver recorded three blocks in the contest to total 18 blocks on the season. The 18 blocks places Weaver No. 1 in the nation in total blocks this season.

The game did not start out in favor of the Golden Eagles (2-3). The 2023 SWAC favorites opened the game on a 9-0 run before ORU’s Bedford hit a 3-point basket to put the Golden Eagles on the board. After another 3-pointer by McBride, ORU was on an 8-2 run to make it 11-8 after the under 16 media timeout.

The Tigers continued to shoot well as ORU was able to make it a 3-point contest three more times in the first half before a 7-0 TSU run game the visitors a 10-point lead with 5:24 left in the first. ORU trailed at the break 37-26 after shooting 31 percent from the field.

Texas Southern led by as much as 13 points on four occasions in the second half. With 15:29 to play, the Golden Eagles turned on the jets and went on an 11-0 run in the span of three minutes before the under-12 minute media timeout. With 10:52 to go, ORU finally tied the game at 49-all.

Down the stretch, there were nine lead changes. With 3:05 left, ORU took a two-point lead 62-60. With 44 seconds, TSU hit a 3-pointer to take a one-point lead, but Weaver gave the Golden Eagles the lead back on the other end after going 2-for-2 from the charity stripe on the following possession.

ORU then had a 65-63 lead with two seconds left as TSU’s Deon Stroud, who led the Tigers with 20 points, missed the final shot giving the Golden Eagles their 18-straight home victory.

For the first time this season, the Golden Eagles out-rebounded their opponent on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Bedford led ORU with nine rebounds for his career high. Sir Issac Herron had a season high five points, six rebounds and two rebounds for the highest plus-minus statistic in the game for either team.

The Golden Eagles were slated to head back out on the road on Tuesday night to the Kansas State Wildcats from the Big 12 Conference.