Oral Roberts pulls away from Houston Baptist 88-55

Jan 2, 2014, 11:57 pm

TULSA, Okla. -- Bobby Word scored 20 points and fueled a second half run with five unanswered 3-pointers as Oral Roberts defeated Houston Baptist 88-55 in their conference opener Thursday night.

The Golden Eagles (7-7, 1-0 Southland) trailed much of the first half but took a 24-23 lead on a Korey Billbury free throw with 3:05 to go and built a 33-28 advantage that they took into the break. Midway through the second half, Oral Roberts put the game away with 20 unanswered points, 15 of them from the five straight 3-pointers by Word.

Shawn Glover contributed 16 points and Billbury had 15 for the Golden Eagles, who shot 48 percent from the field and hit 9 of 20 from beyond the arc.

Houston Baptist (3-10, 0-1) is playing its inaugural season in the Southland Conference.

Cody Joyce and Tyler Russell led the Huskies with 10 points apiece.