South Tulsa Today

The Oral Roberts men's basketball team earned its second Summit League Championship in three seasons after waxing North Dakota State, 92-58, Tuesday evening in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  
 
What was set to be a battle between the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in the championship game quickly turned in to Oral Roberts running away to victory. ORU claimed its second tournament championship in three seasons to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The Summit League Player of the Year, Max Abmas, led the Golden Eagles with his fourth career double-double scoring 26 points and dishing a career tying 11 assists. Tuesday evening marked the second time in program history the Golden Eagles won 30 games in a season.
 
Connor Vanover took the opening tip and ORU scored on the opening possession to give ORU the lead. Oral Roberts led the entire night and quickly went on an 11-0 run to take a double-digit lead. ORU held the double-digit game through the rest of the game. Patrick Mwamba led ORU in the first half surpassing his season high with 17 points and going 6-for-12 from the field and hitting three, three-pointers. The Golden Eagles went into halftime after Mwamba nailed a three-pointer with 51-20 to lead.
 
The lead continued in the second half as the Golden Eagles led by as much as 38 with less than two minutes to go. Abmas scored 16 points in the second and went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. The Golden Eagles closed out the championship with a 92-58 victory. It was ORU's largest margin of victory ever in the Summit League Tournament.
 
The Golden Eagles have won 27 of their last 28 games and improved to 30-4 on the season, their most wins in a season as a Division One program. It was ORU's second 30 win season and first as a Division One program. Connor Vanover captured his sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Vanover had six blocks on the night to put his season total at 109, giving him the ORU single-season record. Mwamba finished with a career high 20 points. Issac McBride and DeShang Weaver added 10 points each.

Individual Leaders
Oral Roberts: Abmas scored 26 and Vanover had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

North Dakota State: Boden Skunburg captured 18 points and eight rebounds.

Inside the Box Score
- ORU shot 34.2 percent from the three-point line.
 
- ORU shot 48.4 percent from the field.

- The Golden Eagles had 20 assists on 30 made baskets.

- Oral Roberts had 26 points in the paint and 35 bench points.

- ORU forced NDSU to 12 turnovers and scored 21 points off those takeaways.

News and Notes
- Abmas has scored 2,550 career points which puts him 3rd all-time in the ORU record book. He is the eighth player to record 2,000-plus points in ORU history. He's recorded 418 three-pointer made making him second all-time in ORU history in that category. He is No. 1 all-time in the Summit League in three-pointers made.

- For Abmas, it was his 21st-straight double-digit game. He is 2nd all-time in points scored in the Summit League record book.

- Vanover has 109 blocks on the season and is second the nation in total blocks and in blocks per game. His 109 blocks is the ORU single-season record.

- The 18 league wins were the most conference wins in program history.

- The 30 overall wins are the most wins in the Division One era.
 
- It's the second time in program history the team has won 30 or more games.
 
- The Golden Eagles were the only team in the nation to go through conference play undefeated.

- ORU is on a 17 game win streak, the nation's longest winning streak. 

Original source can be found here