COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- On Monday afternoon before practice, Missouri
coach Mike Anderson showed his team the video of its last-second defeat
at Oral Roberts last season after which the fans rushed the court.
The Tigers had revenge on their minds
Thursday night.
Laurence Bowers scored 17 points and No.
13 Missouri avenged last season's defeat with an 81-62 victory. Marcus
Denmon added 16 for the Tigers (9-1), who held the Golden Eagles to 26
percent shooting from the field.
"There's some games that you know are a
revenge game," Bowers said. "Oral Roberts is one of those games. We had
the game last year, and they took it from us."
The Tigers were without starting point
guard Michael Dixon who was suspended indefinitely Wednesday for
violating an undisclosed team rule. The sophomore was on the bench in
street clothes for the game.
Anderson would not give any further
details regarding the situation and did not set a timetable for Dixon's
return after the game. Dixon is averaging 10.7 points and leads the team
in assists with 4.3 per game.
"We have high standards for how we
expect our young men to carry themselves," Anderson said. "Michael
didn't meet those standards, therefore he is suspended indefinitely."
In Dixon's absence, highly touted
freshman Phil Pressey scored eight points in his first career start.
Pressey had seven 7 assists, pushing his
total to 16 in the last two games when he has seen his playing time
increase. He said there was minimal adjustment being on the court at the
beginning of the game as opposed to coming off the bench.
"In practice I'm the starting point
guard for my team so it's just about brining practice to the game,"
Pressey said. "Everyone on this team is just as important as the other
guys so we're just looking at the next game trying to get better."
Oral Roberts held a three-point lead
with 7 minutes to play in the first half when the Tigers went on an 18-2
run over a 5-minute span to pull away. Kim English hit consecutive
3-pointers to spur the Tigers to a 37-24 halftime lead.
The Golden Eagles responded with a 10-0
run early in the second half to pull within seven, the closest they
came the rest of the game. They finished with 19 turnovers.
"When your guards shoot 1 for 21, you
aren't going to win games, especially against ranked opponents," Oral
Roberts coach Scott Sutton said. "I thought we missed a lot of shots
tonight but I think the way they want to speed you up probably had a lot
to do with us missing."
Bowers entered the game struggling a
bit averaging just 8.3 points over his last four games. His teammates
know how valuable a prominent Bowers can be on both ends of the court.
"He's one of the key components of our
team," Denmon said. "I feel as he goes, as well as everyone else getting
better, our team goes."
On Dec. 9, 2009, Michael Craion, a
native of Kansas City, took a pass from teammate Dominique Morrison and
laid in the ball with .9 seconds to play handing the Tigers a 60-59
loss. Craion did not play Thursday as he is suffering from a fractured
right foot.
Morrison led the Golden Eagles (4-6)
with 18 points and Damen Bell-Holter finished with 12 and a career-high
17 rebounds.
The win pushes Missouri's
non-conference home streak to 53 straight with all but seven of those
victories coming under Anderson.
