TULSA, Okla. – Senior
Jalon Gates nearly matched his career-high and moved up the HBU men's basketball program's all-time three-pointers made list but the Huskies dropped Friday night's matchup at Oral Roberts by a score of 95-81 inside the Mabee Center.
The Huskies (0-2) found themselves in a 12-6 hole less than five minutes into the game but an 11-5 run, with seven of those points coming from
Ty Dalton, evened things up at 17-17 with 12:24 left in the half. ORU (1-1) then went on an eight-point burst in a span of less than two minutes to lead 25-17.
Two minutes later, the Golden Eagles pushed their lead to 10, 29-19, but a pair of
Zach Iyeyemi free throws and an and-one from
Jalon Gates pulled HBU to within five at the 7:23 mark. ORU's Max Abmas answered with consecutive threes to which Gates answered with two of his own to bring the score to 35-30 with 4:38 remaining in the first half.
HBU cut its deficit to just one with 21 seconds left thanks to a pair of
Ryan Gomes free throws but another Abmas trey sent the teams into the locker rooms with ORU leading 39-35.
The Huskies stayed within one to six points through the first nine minutes of the second stanza and a
Myles Pierre jumper in the paint knotted the score at 57-57 with 10:50 on the clock. ORU answered with buckets on its next four possessions in just a minute's time for an 8-0 run and a 65-57 lead.
The Golden Eagles lead grew to 12 with just over six minutes to go before HBU answered with the next four points to bring it to 73-65 with less than five to go but that was as close as the Huskies would get.
Gates led all players with 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor, connecting on 6-of-13 from behind the arc. His last three-pointer of the night gave him 158 for his career, tying him for fourth on the program's all-time list. Sophomore
Qon Murphy set a new career-high in points with 14 off the bench, shooting an efficient 6-of-9 from the floor and 2-of-2 from deep.
Dalton added 14 for the Huskies, also grabbing five rebounds and three steals for the second-consecutive game. Pierre, in just his second collegiate game, finished with five points, nine rebounds and five assists.
ORU out-rebounded the Huskies 53-41 with 17 of those 51 coming on the offensive end. HBU finished the night shooting 39.4 percent (28-of-71) from the floor and 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from three.
HBU heads to Midland, Texas on Wednesday, Nov 13, for a neutral site matchup against last season's national championship runner up Texas Tech inside the Al G. Langford Chaparral Center at 7:00 p.m.
