Jordan leads Tulsa back from 15-point deficit to beat Oral Roberts 57-52, retain Mayor’s Cup

Tulsa rallies to defeat Oral Roberts 57-52

TULSA, Okla. — Jerome Jordan scored 17 points and led a Tulsa rally after picking up his fourth foul as the Golden Hurricane overcame a 15-point deficit in the second half to beat Oral Roberts 57-52 Wednesday night and retain the Mayor’s Cup in the crosstown rivalry.

Justin Hurtt made two free throws with 2:42 left to put Tulsa ahead for the first time since the opening four minutes of the game, and Joe Richard and Steven Idlet had dunks in the final 37 seconds to close it out.

Hurtt finished with 11 points and Idlet scored 10 for the Golden Hurricane (15-3), which had lost in their last three trips to the Mabee Center.

Kevin Ford led Oral Roberts (10-10) with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Dominique Morrison added 11 points and Michael Craion scored 10.

Tulsa, which entered with the third-best rebounding margin in the nation by beating opponents by 9.9 boards per game, fell behind early by giving up second-chance points but kept Oral Roberts from scoring off an offensive rebound for the final 16 minutes of the game to come back for the win.

Ben Uzoh, held scoreless for the first half, scored the first five points as Tulsa carved into a 36-21 deficit with a 17-6 run. Jordan had a right-handed jam before Donte Medder’s free throw brought the Golden Hurricane within 42-38.

Ford backed in against Jordan and converted a three-point play to stop the run for the Golden Eagles temporarily, but Jordan responded after picking up his fourth foul by scoring Tulsa’s next eight points. Justin Hurtt’s free throw tied it at 49 with 3:19 to play.

Hurtt hit two more foul shots on Tulsa’s next possession, and Joe Richard stretched the lead to 53-50 with a two-handed jam of Uzoh’s missed shot with 37 seconds remaining. Morrison’s jumper in the lane got Oral Roberts within one, but Idlet was open for another dunk after the Golden Hurricane were able to scramble and break the Golden Eagles’ full-court press.

Morrison missed a driving layup, and Uzoh — held to single digits for only the third time this season — hit two free throws with 8.3 seconds left to provide the final margin. He finished with seven points, nearly 10 below his 16.8-point average and one above his season low.

Tulsa won for the first time this season after trailing at halftime and won back-to-back Mayor’s Cup games for the first time since a three-game streak from 2000 to 2002.

In front of the largest crowd (9,303) in the series since a sellout in December 1997, Oral Roberts reeled off 12 straight points and opened a 23-10 lead when Morrison stripped Uzoh to set up Kevin Ford’s two-handed, fast-break dunk with 4:41 left in the first half. The Golden Hurricane went 10 minutes without scoring, missing nine straight shots and committing seven turnovers in that stretch.

Oral Roberts dominated the boards early on, scoring 12 of its first 23 points off of second-chance opportunities.

Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik finally resorted to bringing Jordan off the bench although he’d picked up two early fouls, and the 7-footer broke the scoring drought with a hook shot from the left block. Justin Hurtt hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to six in the closing minute of the first half but Morrison beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from right in front of the Tulsa bench to make it 30-21 at the break.

The Golden Eagles then scored the first six points of the second half to take their largest lead of the game.