Michael Craion doubled his season average with 21 points and had 10 rebounds to help Oral Roberts defeat Missouri-Kansas City 68-57 in the Summit League opener for both teams on Thursday night. Craion hit 7 of 12 from the field and 7 of 11 from the free-throw line en route to a season-high scoring total. He had 12 points in the second half to help the Golden Eagles (4-4, 1-0 Summit) pull away for the victory. Dominique Morrison added 14 points and eight rebounds for ORU, which led 33-31 at intermission after trailing for most of the first half. Morrison had 10 points in the second half. Jay Couisnard led the Kangaroos (3-3, 0-1) with 15 points and LaTreze Mushatt added 14 points. UMKC trailed 51-48 midway through the second half, but could not get any closer after ORU's Ken Holdman answered with three free throws. The Golden Eagles led 60-55 with 4:08 left before reeling off seven consecutive points to seal the outcome. ORU had only one basket in a 10-minute stretch before Morrison sank a jumper with 2:46 remaining for a 64-55 advantage. Another Morrison basket gave ORU its largest lead at 67-55 with 1:15 remaining. ORU made 24 of 32 free throws compared to 8 of 18 for the Kangaroos. The Golden Eagles outrebounded UMKC 36-24. In the first half, after Craion opened the scoring with a basket, UMKC reeled off 11 consecutive points, including six by Trey McKinney-Jones. ORU rallied to tie the game at 25 on Warren Niles' jumper with 4:20 left in the first half. After a basket by McKinney-Jones, ORU went on a 6-0 run for a 31-27 lead. Baskets by McKinney-Jones and Mushatt tied the game at 31 before Morrison's two free throws with five seconds remaining gave ORU a lead it never relinquished. Niles scored all 12 of his points in the first half. McKinney-Jones scored 12 for UMKC, which has lost three in a row.
