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PROVO, UTAH - Oral Roberts' Caleb Green sank two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining to give the Golden Eagles a 76-74 victory over Seton Hall in the opening night of the B.Y.U. Holiday Classic on Thursday. The loss drops the Pirates to 7-3 on the season, while Oral Roberts improves to 6-6.
Junior Brian Laing (Bronx, N.Y.) recorded his third double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. Junior Jamar Nutter (Bloomfield, N.J.) added 16 points, all of which were scored in the first half. Freshmen Eugene Harvey (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Larry Davis (Middle Village, N.Y.) also broke into double-figures in scoring, finishing with 13 points a piece.
Green led all scorers with a game-high 30 points for Oral Roberts. Ken Tutt chipped in 24 points.
Seton Hall trailed by as many as 12 in the first half, but used a furious 19-9 run to finish out the half and cut the Golden Eagles lead to two, 40-38, at the break.
The second half was a see-saw battle that saw the Pirates maintain a slim lead for much of the half despite several obstacles. Three technical fouls were called on Seton Hall in the second half, charged to Stan Gaines (Chicago, Ill.), head coach Bobby Gonzalez and Laing, in that order. The entire starting front court for the Pirates, Laing, Gaines and Grant Billmeier (Pennington, N.J.), would eventually foul out, with Gaines and Billmeier leaving the game with over 9:00 left in regulation for the second straight game. However, a dunk by Mani Messy (Gloucester, Ontario) stretched the Pirates’ lead to eight, 72-64, with only 3:40 left to play.
Oral Roberts ended the game with a 12-2 run fueled by six points from Green and six more from Tutt.
The Golden Eagles’ final six points all came from the free throw line. For the game, Oral Roberts shot a remarkable 39 free throws, but made only 23. Green alone was 12-for-22 from the line. Seton Hall was 11-for-15 from the charity stripe as a team.
The Pirates did an admirable job at closing the rebounding gap late in the game. At one point, the Golden Eagles held an 18-5 edge, but the Pirates hit the boards better in the second half and made the final margin, 35-28. Both teams shot well from the floor, as Oral Roberts shot 54.2 percent to Seton Hall’s 46.7 percent.
Seton Hall resumes action tomorrow night as the B.Y.U. Holiday Classic continues with a match-up against Liberty. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST.
