ORU notebook: Glover returns for Golden Eagles

BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
2/20/13 at 3:28 AM

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Oral Roberts junior forward Shawn Glover, who missed two games last week following a surgical procedure to repair a lacerated eyelid and a torn tear duct, was back in the starting lineup for a Tuesday home game against Central Arkansas and scored 14 points.

Glover, who usually wears contact lenses, played a game wearing protective eyewear for the first time this season.

He's back, part II: Steven Roundtree, whose junior season has been sabotaged by injury, played in only his sixth Southland Conference game Tuesday. He also played one of his best games of the season, collecting 13 points and 13 rebounds in 16 minutes of work off the bench.

"I thought Tree was close to himself the second half," coach Scott Sutton said. "I thought he played extremely hard and gave us a lot of energy and rebounded great and finally started finishing some shots. That's something he has struggled with since he has been back from his injuries. That was great to see."

Familiar face: Central Arkansas senior guard Robert Crawford played high school ball near the Mabee Center. He is a Victory Christian alumnus.

Crawford owns the Bears' third-best scoring average and totaled eight points against ORU. Also on the UCA roster is freshman center Sean Young of Bixby.

Up and down: Central Arkansas tries to use pressure tactics to speed up the tempo and force opponents into mistakes. But ORU outscored UCA 23-21 in points off turnovers and Korey Billbury said he liked playing that style.

"I think we like to get up and down when we can," teammate Mikey Manghum added. "The danger is that, like when we played Northwestern State, we kind of got a little bit too sped up and that's when we started turning the ball over. But if we can run and take care of the ball at the same time, I think we have the kind of athletes that can play that way."

Early exit: Warren Niles leads the Southland Conference in minutes played. He was on the floor for 119 of a possible 120 minutes in ORU's previous three games. Because the Golden Eagles blew out the Bears, Niles got to take a seat with 4:49 remaining. He still played a team-high 30 minutes.

Associated Images:

Oral Roberts' Damen Bell-Holter takes a shot under pressure from Central Arkansas' Jordan Harks during Tuesday's game at the Mabee Center. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World