Dominique Morrison carries ORU past North Dakota State
BY Staff Reports
Sunday, February 05, 2012
2/05/12 at 6:52 AM
FARGO, N.D. - The Oral Roberts basketball team wasn't ready to surrender its edge atop the Summit League without a fight.
Dominique Morrison scored 36 points, leading the Golden Eagles to a key 85-76 win over North Dakota State before 4,464 in Bison Sports Arena on Saturday night.
Morrison scored 27 of his points in the second half, when head coach Scott Sutton said the senior forward "put us on his back."
ORU managed a split of its toughest conference road trip, and stayed one game ahead of South Dakota State in the loss column. The Jacks, who gave the Eagles their first league loss two nights earlier, survived a scare at home to beat Southern Utah 66-56.
Sutton said Saturday's win was huge, coming on the heels of the SDSU loss.
"We obviously had a very disappointing effort the other night, but championship teams respond, and I couldn't be prouder of my kids," Sutton said.
"They came back in a different environment against a very good team and played like a championship team. We've got a lot of games left, and some difficult games, but that was a huge win to be able to stay a game up on South Dakota State," Sutton said.
Damen Bell-Holter supported Morrison with 16 points and eight rebounds and three other Golden Eagle players scored in double figures - Rod Pearson with 12, Warren Niles with 11 and Steven Roundtree with 10.
ORU (21-5, 13-1) won for only the second time in five tries in Fargo since NDSU entered the Summit League in 2007. The Eagles will now host IUPUI on Thursday night and Western Illinois for homecoming on Saturday.
Mike Felt led NDSU (15-8, 8-5) with 19 points, going 5-for-6 from 3-point range.
Morrison went 10-for-17 from the field, 2-for-4 from 3-point range and 14-for-16 from the foul line. His point total was two shy of his career-high 38 in a home win over South Dakota State last month. He scored 20 or more for the 14th time this season and the 10th time in the last 14 games.
The Eagles opened an 11-point lead early in the second half, but the Bison rallied behind Felt's four second-half treys and cut the lead to 62-60 on a Taylor Braun 3-pointer with seven minutes left. But baskets by Pearson and Morrison gave the Eagles breathing room and stopped NDSU's surge.
Original Print Headline: Morrison lifts ORU to victory
Men's basketball
ORU.............85
N. Dakota St. .............76
Up next
Vs. IUPUI
7:05 p.m. Thursday
TV: KGEB-23/53 (10 p.m. tape-delayed)
Radio: KYAL fm97.1, am1550
