Mastodons Face Oral Roberts in 2012 Tournament Opener

PRE-GAME NOTES

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - For the third time this season the IPFW Mastodons will face off against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, as ORU swept the season series between the two teams with an 11-point win in Tulsa, followed by a four-point victory earlier this month in Fort Wayne.

Opponent: Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (26-5, 17-1 Summit)
When: Saturday, March 3, 2012 | 7 p.m. EST
Where: Sioux Falls, S.D. | Sioux Falls Arena (6,300)
Radio: ESPN 1380 AM (Kent Hormann, play-by-play; Jeff Parrish, analyst)
Television: Midco Sports Network / Fox College Sports (Tom Nieman, play-by-play; Brad newitt, analyst)
Live Stats: Summit League Live Stats
Streaming Video: Summit League Inside Access (Subscription Required)

NEARLY PERFECT
Against UMKC on February 25, IPFW's Trey McCorkle went 13-of-14, a shooting percentage of .929. The percentage is the fifth highest in NCAA Division I this season, and the top of the list for players that have missed a shot. Between the end of the South Dakota game (his last miss came with 11:32 left in the first half) and the end of the UMKC game (first and only miss came with 53 seconds left in the second half), McCorkle made 18 consecutive shots, and went 67 minutes and 39 seconds of game-play time without a miss. Additionally, if had he made his 13th shot of the night, and finished 14-of-14, he would have been tied for the second-best single-game field goal percentage in NCAA Division I history. The single-game field goal percentage record is a perfect 15-of-15 by Louisville's Cliff Rozier on December 11, 1993. The NCAA record for consecutive field goals made is 25, held by Ray Voelkel of American University over the course of nine games in 1978.

IPFW IN LEAGUE TOURNAMENTS
Over the past 13 years, IPFW has taken part in six different conference tournaments, including two in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), a league in which IPFW was a member between 1984 and 2000, but only two seasons with a league tournament. The Mastodons are 2-6 all-time in league tournaments, including 2-4 in the Summit League Championships, starting with the program's first-ever Summit League Tournament in Tulsa, Okla. In all of IPFW's wins, the school was the lower seed.

UPHILL BATTLE
In the 27 previous seasons of the Summit League (also named the Association of Mid-Continent Universities and later the Mid-Continent Conference), six times the top seed has earned a bye into the second round, and is a perfect 21-0 in games that were played.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Oral Roberts comes into Saturday's first-round game with a 26-5 overall record, including a 17-1 mark in Summit League play, which earned the Golden Eagles the top seed into the Summit League Tournament.

In the team's regular season finale, a 73-71 win at Southern Utah, ORU led for nearly the entire second half, despite
seeing an eight-point lead with 4:48 to play in the game cut to one with a minute left. Dominique Morrison, who stands 14th in the country in scoring, scored a game-high 24 points, while Roderick Pearson scored 15 and Warren Niles 12. Damen Bell-Holter pulled down six rebounds, while Pearson dished out six assists.

For the season, Morrison averages 20.3 points per game, as Niles (12.0), Michael Craion (11.1), and Steven Roundtree
(10.3) also average double-figure scoring, with Pearson (8.1) and Bell-Holter (8.1) not far from the pace. Craion pulls down a team-leading 6.1 rebounds per game on the season, with Pearson pacing the squad with 118 assists, and Niles 75. Craion has blocked 25 shots and also leads the team with 49 steals.

SERIES vs. ORAL ROBERTS
IPFW and Oral Roberts have met on the basketball court 11 times over the past five seasons, including once in the Summit League Tournament. The Golden Eagles are 8-3 in the all-time series, including sweeping both of the games this season; however, the Mastodons are 2-2 over the last two seasons, and 3-4 over the last three against ORU.

EARLIER THIS SEASON AGAINST ORAL ROBERTS
January 19
With the Mastodons leading 31-29 at halftime, the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles out-scored IPFW by 13 points in the second half, behind 21 second-half tallies from Dominique Morrison, as the Eagles topped the 'Dons 65-54 at the Mabee Center.

Frank Gaines scored a team-high 17 points, making 6-of-10 shots from the field, while Trey McCorkle scored 11, and Antwaun Boyd eight. Gaines pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds, with three others; John Peckinpaugh, McCorkle, and Justin Jordan, pulling down five caroms. Jordan dished out a team-leading three assists, with Gaines grabbing a pair of steals.

February 15
Frank Gaines scored a game-high 28 points, but it was not enough as the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles clinched the Summit League regular season title in a 75-71 Golden Eagle victory on Senior Day at the Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday.

Gaines made 10-of-15 shots from the field, and 5-of-7 from long range, while also pulling down a game-high eight rebounds, and dishing out a team-best three assists. Trey McCorkle also reached double-digits in the scoring column with 12 points, while Jonny Marlin and Mario Hines each added eight points off of the bench.

HIGH SCORER
According to the latest NCAA Statistical rankings (2/2612), IPFW junior Frank Gaines currently ranks ninth in the country in points per game, averaging 21.0 per contest. He has reached the 20-point plateau in 18 of the team's 29 games this season, including scoring a career-high 30 points against Western Illinois on January 7, at Oakland on February 11, at Eastern Kentucky on February 18, and at South Dakota on February 23. In all, the Summit League has five scorers inside of the top-14 overall, with Oakland's Reggie Hamilton leading the nation. There are also 18 players currently averaging over 20 points per game, over one quarter of those coming from the Summit League.

QUICK HITTERS
• IPFW faces off against regular season top seed Oral Roberts for the third time this season
• After a 13-for-14 shooting effort, Trey McCorkle has the fifth highest single-game field goal percentage in NCAA
Division I this season
• The top seed has never fallen in the Summit League Tournament Quarterfinals, including six years with byes, and a
21-0 overall record in those games.
• IPFW has made 50 percent or more of its shots in ten games this season, and in each of the last three games. The
season-high for the Mastodons was .608 (31-of-51) against Horizon League Champion Valparaiso on December 7
• Frank Gaines became the program's 11th member of the 1,000-point club in the first half of the team's loss at
Western Illinois on February 2. He currently has 1,183 career points, and sits 7th in career scoring at IPFW
• Gaines has also climbed into second in single-season scoring at IPFW with 609 points, and needs 64 more to pass
Bruce Roland (1987-88) for the top spot
• Gaines currently sits third in the Summit League and ninth in NCAA Division I in scoring, averaging 21.0
points per game.
• IPFW head coach Tony Jasick is 11-18 in his first season as head coach of the Mastodons
• Jasick is the fifth youngest current head coach in NCAA Division I
• Gaines saw his 19-game double-figure scoring streak snapped at Nebraska Omaha on December 11, being held to
seven points. He has scored 20 or more in 18 of his last 29 games.
• IPFW has an RPI of 280 in the latest RPI rankings and Oral Roberts ranks 42nd.
• IPFW Is 2-3 all-time on February 25
• IPFW is 2-6 all-time in conference tournaments, and 2-4 in The Summit League Tournament
• IPFW has used four different starting lineups this season, and only Frank Gaines and John Peckinpaugh have started
all 29 games for the Mastodons
• Gaines and Trey McCorkle have combined for 46 double-digit scoring efforts this season, while the rest of the squad
has combined for 34

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

Mastodons Face Oral Roberts in 2012 Tournament Opener

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