National Basketball Association
Oral Roberts 75, Ohio St. 72
When: 3:00 PM ET, Friday, March 19, 2021
Where: Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, Indiana
Officials:
# Jeffrey Anderson, # Barry Pollard, # Bart Lenox
Attendance:
N/A
By Field Level Media
Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor combined for 59 points as 15th seed Oral Roberts stunned No. 2 seed Ohio State 75-72 in overtime in West Lafayette, Ind., on Friday.
Obanor had seven of his 30 points in overtime for the Golden Eagles (17-10) and Abmas, the nation's leading scorer at 24.2 points per game, had 29 in the South Region shocker.
Oral Roberts plays No. 7 seed Florida on Sunday with a berth in the Sweet 16 at stake. The Gators defeated 10th-seeded Virginia Tech 75-70 in overtime on Friday.
ORU had just six turnovers compared to 16 for Ohio State.
E.J. Liddell scored 23 for Ohio State and Duane Washington Jr. had 19. The Buckeyes were 9 of 18 from the foul line in the game.
Obanor scored the first five points of overtime for a 69-64 lead and Abmas later made with a 3-pointer for a 72-66 advantage with 2:05 left.
It was 72-69 when Washington missed two free throws with 37 seconds left for Ohio State (21-10) and he missed a layup in traffic with 23 seconds to go.
Kareem Thompson made a foul shot for Oral Roberts before Liddell's 3 made it 73-72. Obanor made two free throws with 13 seconds left to make it 75-72 and Justin Ahrens and Washington missed 3-point tries at the end.
Liddell earlier missed a free throw with 36 seconds left in regulation and Obanor went to the line with 14.9 seconds remaining to make both free throws to tie it at 64 before Washington came up short on his long jumper at the buzzer, the Buckeyes' second bid to tie on the possession.
Ohio State went to overtime in two of four Big Ten tournament games, including a 91-88 loss to Illinois in the title game.
The Golden Eagles had a 36-33 halftime lead.
Abmas and Washington conducted their own personal duel in the early stages. The score was tied at 10 through four minutes and they had identical lines -- 3 of 3 from the floor, including two 3-pointers, for eight points.
When Washington nailed a 3 to put Ohio State ahead 13-10 at the 15:27 mark, he upped his total to 11 points, but those would be his last of the half.
Oral Roberts was the first No. 15 seed to win in the tournament since 2016 (Middle Tennessee over Michigan State).
It was the first NCAA Tournament win for the program since 1974.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Oral Roberts |
|
Ohio St. |
|
Kevin Obanor 30 |
Scoring |
E.J. Liddell 23 |
|
Carlos Jurgens 6 |
Assists |
E.J. Liddell 5 |
|
Kevin Obanor 11 |
Rebounds |
E.J. Liddell 14 |
|
Kevin Obanor 7 |
Free Throws Made |
CJ Walker 4 |
|
Carlos Jurgens 5 |
Steals |
Justin Ahrens 2 |
|
DeShang Weaver 1 |
Blocks |
Justin Ahrens 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Oral Roberts
|
75 |
35.7 |
11-35 |
14-18 |
13 |
30 |
1 |
10 |
6 |
| Ohio St.
|
72 |
43.3 |
5-23 |
9-18 |
15 |
44 |
5 |
2 |
16 |
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