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ORU Sinks LU with Threes

12/15/03
by John C. Thomas
Loyola entered their home opener against Oral Roberts as the Horizon League leader in three point shooting defense. By the end of the night, that distinction was blasted to bits as the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles shot the lights out from behind the arc in the second half of their 80–78 victory Monday night at the Gentile Center.

Loyola, looking to extend an 11-game non-conference winning streak at the Joe, got off to another great start by scoring the first four point of the game. Paul McMillan was on fire offensively, leading all scorers with 15 points by halftime. But McMillan’s counterpart on ORU, Ralph Charles, scored 14 in the first half to keep ORU close. Loyola led at the break 41-37.

In the opening minutes of the second half, the two teams traded baskets and turnovers. But after Terrance Whiters missed a three in transition for Loyola, ORU’s Josh Atkinson hit on a three pointer to give ORU the momentum and their first lead at 51-49 with just under 16:00 to play.

ORU extended their lead midway through the second half as the Eagles hit on an incredible seven of their first eight threes in the second period. The Golden Eagles claimed a seven-point lead on a free throw with just over eight minutes to play at 65-58.

But the Ramblers fought back, bolstered by an early entry to the bonus. LU entered the game as one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country, but used the bonus and some good free throw shooting at the line to claw their way back into the game.

Loyola took the lead at 70-69 on a DaJuan Gouard shot with 6:05 to play, and fought off ORU’s three pointers to lead again at 78-77 with 2:15 remaining. But a key basket by ORU’s super freshman Ken Tutt gave ORU the lead with :20 remaining, and a poorly-executed play out of a timeout gave ORU the game.

It was Loyola’s first home non-conference loss since losing to Loyola Marymount in December 2000.

Paul McMillan led the Ramblers with a career-high 25 points and snagged 12 rebounds. Demetrius Williams added 19, and DaJuan Gouard had 11.

Meanwhile, ORU’s Atkinson hit seven of his 13 attempts from behind the arc and 8-of-16 overall for his 25 career-high points. Overall, ORU hit 11 of their 23 three point tries for 48% behind the arc.

Loyola had this game, and they let it slip away. The Ramblers are very lucky that they’re not 0-4, considering the dicey way they’ve won their two games. LU was forced to overtime at UMKC by bad free throw shooting and won by seven at Valpo after the Crusaders only hit on two of 20 shots from behind the arc.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Ramblers now as they head back out on the road to face Bradley in Peoria where the upstart Braves are undefeated.

It’s probably time for Coach Farmer to stop the experiment of starting DaJuan Gouard and Anthony Smith over Majak Kou and Demetrius Williams. Don’t you think? And Paul McMillan needs to play a little defense-- yes, they do care a little about defense in the NBA Draft.