TULSA, Okla.—Oral Roberts had five players score in double figures led by Emmanuel Nzekwesi with 23 to lead the Golden Eagles to a 94-80 win over South Dakota inside the Mabee Center Saturday night.
It was the first loss for the Coyotes (19-9, 9-4 Summit) since Jan. 15 at North Dakota State. South Dakota got 24 points from Stanley Umude, his second straight game of 20 or more points. Tyler Hagedorn finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Umude went 14-of-20 from the line but the rest of the Coyotes combined to go 9-of-16.
Oral Roberts got its second straight win and improved to 14-12 overall and 7-6 in the loop. In addition to Nzekwesi, Deondre Burns scored 21 points and Max Abmas and R.J. Fuqua both scored 17 points. Kevin Obanor rounded out the double-figure scoring for ORU with 11 points.
The Golden Eagles came out hot, punching the Coyotes in the mouth to take a 50-33 lead into the break and quickly extended their lead to its largest of the night at 19 points with 19:22 left in the second half.
The Coyotes caught fire to bring the game within five points at 65-60 thanks in part to a 15-3 run capped off by a Brandon Armstrong 3-pointer to force a Golden Eagles’ timeout with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
But the Coyotes went cold the rest of the way while ORU pushed the lead back to 17 with 2:12 left. South Dakota would get as close as 14 the rest of the way.
USD also got 11 points from Tyler Peterson on 4-of-6 shooting before fouling out late in the second half. As a team, the Yotes shot 47 percent from the field and 27 percent from deep while the Golden Eagles shot 46 percent overall and 45 percent from beyond the arc.
South Dakota returns home to face North Dakota State on Wednesday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center at 7 p.m.
(Caleb Christensen contributed to this report)
