Oral Roberts ends UND's season with 76-65 win in Summit League Tournament men's basketball quarterfinals
Mar. 8—SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — In the first half of UND's Summit League Tournament quarterfinal against Oral Roberts, Fighting Hawks junior post Filip Rebraca took a charge from Oral Roberts' Kevin Obanor.
The foul went to Obanor but Rebraca needed to go to the locker room to stop bleeding and receive stiches.
That was just the way things went for UND in the postseason opener.
No. 4 seed Oral Roberts turned up the defensive pressure to beat No. 5 UND 76-65 at the Sanford Pentagon on Sunday night.
Rebraca's streak of 33-straight games in double figures scoring came to an end, as he finished with eight points and nine rebounds in 29 minutes.
"The charge he took on Obanor was a big-time hit," UND coach Paul Sather said. "He went back in the locker room to get a lot of stiches and comes back and plays. It shows you the heart he has and the teammate he is. He wasn't out there his normal 35 (minutes). But those 29 he was in he was a warrior for us. It's fun coaching a guy who has that kind of mentality he has."
UND saw four players reach double figures — Seybian Sims, Bentiu Panoam, Caleb Nero and Mitchell Sueker all finished with 11 points.
The Fighting Hawks had 14 turnovers to ORU's seven. The Golden Eagles turned that advantage into a 15-4 edge in points off turnovers.
UND was also just 3-for-16 from the 3-point line, as one of its top outside threats, Ethan Igbanugo, was 1-for-6 from the field and 0-for-3 from the 3-point line. The Hawks shot 40.4 percent from the field and 64 percent from the foul line.
Oral Roberts' Max Abmas, the nation's leading scorer, was 0-for-6 from 3-point range but still managed to score 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field.
The unexpected threat for the Golden Eagles was DeShang Weaver, who was 8-for-11 from the floor for a career-high 18 points. Weaver entered the game averaging 5.7 points per game.
"He's such a terrific kid," ORU coach Paul Mills said. "He was really springy this morning in shootaround. You enjoy watching your players thrive. He obviously delivered."
UND trailed 39-29 at halftime. The Hawks cut the ORU lead down to 62-56 with 4:06 remaining on a Sueker layup.
ORU, though, countered with an Obanor dunk and an Abmas jumper as the lead ballooned back to 10 with 3:04 left in the second half.
Sather was pleased with his defensive effort and rebounding but the UND offense just couldn't find a footing.
"If we're at the under-minute mark, right when we have to start fouling, they're at about 68 points," Sather said. "If you tell me before the game, we hold Obanor to nine and Abmas to 22, I'd say we feel pretty good about where we are. We competed defensively and on the glass. Offensively, there were just times where we were a little sped up. We weren't at ease, and they were really flying at us. Some shots didn't fall."
Oral Roberts advances to play South Dakota State in the tournament semifinals at 5:45 p.m. Monday.
"We had a lot of new guys, and a lot of new guys who played a lot," Sather said, reflecting on the 2020-21 season. "They went through it for the first time. There's been growth from the start to now, and that needs to continue to grow. At times this year, we really played great basketball. But we need to be more consistent with that."
UND, which won two games at last year's league tournament, ends it season 9-17 and 8-9 in Summit league play.
