By MIKE BROWN Sports Writer on Jan 10, 2012, at 11:31 PM Updated on 1/10 at 11:31 PM
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ORU head coach Scott Sutton said he’ll be wearing his lucky tie in Thursday’s game at Western Illinois, even if it has purple in it.
“That’s one of the Leathernecks’ colors, but I don’t care,” he said.
Sutton has worn the same tie throughout ORU’s current seven-game winning streak.
The Golden Eagles can make their own luck by controlling WIU’s Ceola Clark. The 6-foot-3 senior is one of the best point guards in a league crawling with good ones.
“I don’t know if there’s a lot of mid-major conferences across the country that have better point guards than we do,” Sutton said.
Sutton clicked off South Dakota State’s Nate Wolters, Oakland’s Reggie Hamilton and North Dakota State freshman Lawrence Alexander, who had 16 points and seven assists against the Eagles last Thursday night.
That’s not to mention ORU senior Rod Pearson, who has 30 assists and only seven turnovers in his last four games. Pearson hasn’t turned the ball over in the last two games, and has gone a span of 62 minutes.
Clark is:
first in the league in 3-point shooting (38-for-76, .500), 3-pointers per game (2.9) and minutes played (36.2);
second in assist/turnover ratio (2.6);
tied for second in steals (2.0);
fourth in assists (4.9); and
13th in points per game (13.5).
“He’s great with the ball in his hands and he’s shooting at an unbelievable clip right now,” Sutton said. “I think he’s got more weapons around him, too.”
One of the weapons is Edmond Memorial freshman Obi Emegano, who leads the Leathernecks in scoring at 13.9 points per game while ranking seventh in the Summit League in shooting (73-for-129, .566).
The 6-foot-3 Emegano was Mid-State Conference player of the year as an Edmond Memorial junior and signed with WIU in the fall of his senior year, then helped lead the Bulldogs to the Class 6A state title.
“We knew he was a good player, but we just didn’t go for him,” Sutton said. “He’s been impressive so far.”
--ORU—
Dominique Morrison said he hasn’t changed a thing. The ball is just going in for him now.
And how!
Over the past seven games, Morrison is shooting a blistering 61.8 percent (55-for-89) and has raised his season shooting percentage by nearly 80 points.
ORU was 7-4 after the 67-61 loss at Gonzaga on Dec. 15, and Morrison was shooting 41.4 percent (58-for-140). The Eagles take a 14-4 mark to WIU on Thursday night and Morrison is shooting 49.3 percent overall (113-for-229).
“I’m just taking shots I was missing. I don’t think I’ve changed anything,” he said.
Morrison has been even hotter from 3-point range, hitting 63.6 percent (28-for-44) over the past seven games, and 69.0 percent (20-for-29) over the past four.
“The 3-pointers were always something I worked at, and I think we’re just seeing the results,” he said.
--ORU—
Senior guard Ken Holdman said he’s still trying to come to grips with missing the season with a knee injury and is hopeful of returning next season.
Holdman tore his anterior cruciate ligament on Nov. 6 and underwent surgery Nov. 21.
“I really don’t know how to feel,” he said in a recent interview. “I have good days and bad days. I’m still kind of overwhelmed that I didn’t get to play this year. I’m glad to see my teammates doing good. They’re doing what everybody expected them to do, having a good season.”
Holdman said rehabilitation is going fine, but he probably won’t be able to do anything basketball-related until the summer.
He said he focused on academics during the fall semester.
“This is the best time to focus on school because I’m not in basketball, so I have more time for classwork,” he said.
-- Mike Brown
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