Denver (1-10, 0-4) faced Oral Roberts University (8-6, 5-1) Saturday afternoon in a rematch. Once again, Denver was ice cold from the field and turned the ball over 16 times in the nine-point loss to ORU. Despite the final result, Denver continues to show resilience, continually battling back from deficits to make games close in the final minutes but unable to finish games with a ‘W’.
Denver fell behind early, 7-0, and trailed 11-3 after five minutes. Kevin Obanor led the early charge for the Golden Eagles with 6 points. Denver shooting went ice cold over the next five minutes and ORU raced out to a 20-11 lead ten minutes into the contest. Denver battled back with an 11-1 run, capped by a 3-point bomb from Roscoe Eastmond which knotted the score 21-21. The Golden Eagles responded with an 8-0 run of their own with four minutes remaining in the half to lead 29-21. A 3-point shot by ORU along with two steals and a flurry of DU turnovers allowed the Golden Eagles to build a double-digit lead as the half ended, 38-26. The Pioneers shot a miserly 25% for the half and committed 11 turnovers. Jase Townsend led DU with 12 points but Denver struggled to score.
Denver started the first three minutes of the second half strong with an Eric Moenkhaus 3-point shot and Sam Hines, Jr. lay-up, Denver drew within three, 47-44, with 14:46 remaining. ORU, the second-best 3-point shooting team in the country, got hot beyond the arc raining three’s and extended their lead once again to ten points, 60-50. DU’s Sam Hines, Jr. took charge with some big points as the Pioneers stormed back, capped by a Jase Townsend jumper to make the score 68-66, ORU, with 5:46 remaining. The Golden Eagles had another run but the Pioneers pulled within five points in the waning minutes. A Jase Townsend three-point basket drew DU within four points, 84-80, with 55 seconds remaining but Denver could get no closer with the contest eventually settling at 91-82, ORU.
Denver was plagued by cold field goal shooting (52.9 vs 45.2%) and turnovers (16-13) and never led in the contest. The bright spots for DU were Jase Townsend (35 points, 5 rebs.) and the play of freshmen Eric Moenkhaus and Sam Hines, Jr. . Moenkhaus (8 points. 2 steals) added valuable energy in the second half and Sam Hines had a double-double (16 points, 10 rebs) along with three blocks and one steal.
Same band, same tune. Once again, a spirited effort but another loss…
DU simply cannot compensate for Jones’ injury. ORU had four guys in double digits, while DU had two. There’s the talent difference. Townsend did all he could do with 35 points for DU, and Sam Hines is turning into a solid D-I ball player with 16 points and 10 rebounds today. Greene and Bickham had nine each, which are very good outputs for those guys. Moenkhaus is starting to develop, too, with an 8- point day. But that is not enough D-I talent to beat a team like ORU, who outscored DU 19-5 on the fast break. To have a chance to beat ORU, someone like Ryder, Eastmond or Gatlin would have had to step-up to a higher level output today and that didn’t happen…
Please continue keeping games within single digits, something will eventually break through. I think getting healthy and winning the first game will open up the rest of the year to snag a couple more wins and make it more respectable.
To the blog writers: thank you for all your efforts in keeping this place going as the de facto forum for all things DU. I know it’s not easy but it’s certainly appreciated.
As long as this team plays hard, that’s all we can ask for.
The Summit League, particularly this year, isn’t exactly tearing it up. DU has games remaining against KC, Omaha, and Western Illinois. Maybe the Pios can scratch out a few wins. At this point any W will be cathartic.