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Purdue Fort Wayne
Oral Roberts
Yearby Sets School Mark as IPFW tops Oral Roberts
2/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2009
Fort Wayne, IN - Junior forward Deilvez Yearby swatted a school record seven shots and registered a double-double as IPFW defeated visiting Oral Roberts, 74-65 on Saturday afternoon at the Memorial Coliseum.
The win, IPFW's second straight, is the first over the Golden Eagles in four all-time meetings.
It was the torrid outside shooting of sophomore guard Zach Plackemeier that got the Mastodons rolling in the first half. Plackemeier got the 'Dons on the board by drilling a pair of 3-pointers.
Yearby set the tone for his career-day by skying high to slam back a Mastodon 3-point miss, and on the next possession it was Plackemeier slashing to the hoop for a layin giving IPFW an early 11-10 lead.
The 'Dons would never trail from that point.
Plackemeier finished the half going 6-6 from the floor, 4-4 from behind the arc for 17 points, while Yearby tormented the Golden Eagles interior for 14 first half markers. IPFW held a 36-25 lead at the break.
In the second half, Oral Roberts (11-13, 9-3 SL) cut the lead to single digits on a layup by senior guard Robert Jarvis. His basket made it 44-36 IPFW with 14:35 remaining.
IPFW was able to build their lead back to double figures as Yearby went on a 5-0 run of his own, making it 56-44.
Over the next five minutes, Oral Roberts outscored IPFW, 13-5 and cut the lead to just four on a steal and layup by senior guard Kelvin Sango.
But on the next trip up the floor, Sango was whistled for his fifth foul of the game. He took offense to the call and was assessed a technical. The Oral Roberts bench was also slapped with a technical foul so IPFW went to the line to shoot six foul shots.
Sophomore guard Ben Botts hit three and senior guard Jakari Johnson hit one of two to push the Mastodon lead back to eight with just 1:36 left.
Yearby would block a pair of layup attempts by Dominique Morrison under a minute and the Mastodons hit their foul shots the rest of the way to preserve the win.
"I'm very proud of our guys for persevering, because at any instance Oral Roberts can strike and strike fast and strike with big numbers," IPFW head coach Dane Fife stated. "It keeps us alive. It keeps us in pretty good standing in The Summit League in terms of the tournament, and again it is just a great win over a great team."
Yearby led all scorers with a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double in blue and white.
Plackemeier also registered a career-high with 22 points and seven rebounds. Senior David Carson, saddled with foul trouble most of the game, added 12 while Botts finished with 11.
Morrison led three Golden Eagles with 18 points.
IPFW shot 40.4% from the floor while defensively holding ORU to just 33.3%. ORU won the battle of the boards, 44-38.
With the win, IPFW improves to 10-14 overall and 5-8 in Summit League play. It is the fourth straight year that IPFW has hit double-digits in wins.
After sweeping their last two home games, IPFW will hit the road for their next three beginning next Saturday at Oakland.
~Dons~
