Oral Roberts

Ken Tutt scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half, and Larry Owens added a career-high 24 as Oral Roberts earned its first NCAA tournament berth in 22 years with an 85-72 win over Chicago State in the Mid-Continent Conference title game last night in Tulsa, Okla. The top-seeded Golden Eagles (21-11), who lost a heartbreaker in last year's title game, pushed ahead with an 18-0 run early in the second half. In last year's championship, Oakland's Pierre Dukes hit an off-balance three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left.

Villanova didn't come right out last night and exorcise Monday's horrible showing against Providence. The Wildcats didn't exactly blister Oral Roberts off the court. This game was more like a slow torture. By midway through the second half, Oral Roberts was too worn down to operate effectively, and No. 8-ranked Villanova's 64-46 victory seemed inevitable. "When the boulder started rolling down the hill, we couldn't stop it," Oral Roberts coach Bill Self said after his team scored just 17 points in the second half.

Happy Easter and send more money, said evangelist Oral Roberts yesterday. Mr. Roberts and his son, Richard, offered Easter greetings to television viewers, then spent the rest of their half-hour fund-raising program discussing their medical-missionary scholarship program and its need for money. They repeated pleas for donations that they have been making since the evangelist concluded a fasting and prayer marathon in his prayer tower in Tulsa, Okla., March 31. Evelyn Roberts joined her husband and son in telling viewers that the missionaries' financial needs would continue even though the fund drive - dramatized by Roberts' personal revelation that God would "call him home" if it failed - had netted more than its $8 million goal.

Oral Roberts, who managed to raise $8 million in two months two years ago when he vowed God would "call me home" if the money didn't come, said he now needed $11 million in the next two months or his creditors would "start dismantling" his ministry. This time, the TV preacher said, "I'll just walk away" if his plea isn't heeded. In an interview published yesterday in the Tulsa (Okla.) World, Roberts said monthly donations to his ministry had dropped from $5 million to $2.7 million, adding that for the first time in 41 years he's in danger of not making a payroll to his 2,130 full-time employees and 1,117 student workers.

Oral Roberts, who said God had told him he might die if he did not raise $4.5 million for medical missionary scholarships by the end of next month, has revealed that he has had a session with Satan, too. "The devil came to my room a few nights ago," the evangelist said Tuesday on Richard Roberts Live. "And I felt those hands on my throat, and he was choking the life out of me. I yelled to my wife, 'Honey, come.' She laid her hands on me and rebuked the devil and commanded the devil to get out of my room.

The words displayed on the baseline at the Oral Roberts arena say a lot about what people need to know about the university, the basketball program, the attitude at one of America's best-known evangelical meeting points: "Expect A Miracle. " OK, so maybe it's a bit irreverent to be looking for miracles on a basketball court. Then again, this is the NCAA Tournament, and the basketball program has, of late, been one of the best things going at the troubled campus in Tulsa, Okla. The 13th-seeded Golden Eagles (24-8)

CINCINNATI - Dominique Morrison scored 19 points Sunday to lead Oral Roberts (8-4) to a 64-42 victory over previously unbeaten Xavier, which played with three of its starters suspended. The eighth-ranked Musketeers (8-1) didn't have point guard Tu Holloway, shooting guard Mark Lyons, or freshman forward Dez Wells, who account for 40 percent of their points. The trio was suspended for a brawl against crosstown rival Cincinnati. Penn State 72, Mount St. Mary's 43 - Tim Frazier led five Nittany Lions (7-5)

Mike Green matched his career high with 24 points and No. 12 Butler used a big second-half run to beat Cleveland State, 70-55, in Indianapolis, for its fifth Horizon League championship and first automatic berth in the NCAAs since 2001. Butler (29-3) blew a 14-point lead in the first half but pulled away again midway through the second half and took a 60-44 lead with 6 minutes to go on consecutive 3-pointers by Drew Streicher and reserve Zach Hahn. J'Nathan Bullock, who led Cleveland State (21-12)

ORAL ROBERTS HAS either committed a commendable act of charity or blatant patronage. You make the call. Yesterday, the university hired Sean Sutton to be an adviser to his brother, Scott, who is the head basketball coach. In 2006, Sean succeeded his father, Eddie, as head coach at Oklahoma State. That was after his dad took a medical leave following an auto accident in which he was cited for driving under the influence. In 2008, Sean was pressured to resign after two lackluster seasons.

Philadelphia will be an NIT kind of town on Wednesday, with St. Joseph's, Drexel, and La Salle all hosting National Invitation Tournament games that night in the consolation tournament. Drexel (27-6) hosts Central Florida (22-10) at the Daskalakis Center at 7:15 p.m., and St. Joe's (20-13) hosts Northern Iowa (19-13) at Hagan Arena at the same time, with both games being streamed on ESPN3. La Salle (21-12) hosts Minnesota (19-14) at Tom Gola Arena at 7 p.m., to be shown on ESPN2. In the College Basketball Invitational, Penn (19-12)

QUINN COOK scored a career-high 27 points and No. 1 Duke held Clemson to its lowest-scoring half in 12 years in a 68-40 victory over the visiting Tigers on Tuesday night. Ryan Kelly added 12 points in the first half but sat out the second with what team officials said was a right leg injury. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said a CAT scan and X-rays are planned. "We're hopeful that it's not real serious, but for precautionary reasons, we felt that it wasn't good to play him in the second half," Krzyzewski said.

Women's College Basketball Preseason All-Americans     The Associated Press 2012-13 preseason women's all-American team, from a 40-member national media panel: Player   School   Ht.   Year   Votes Brittney Griner   Baylor   6-8   Senior   40 Skylar Diggins   Notre Dame   5-9   Senior   40 Elena Delle Donne   Delaware   6-5   Senior   40 Chiney Ogwumike   Stanford   6-3   Junior   23 ...

For one more day, Drexel's exclusion in the NCAA tournament dominated conversation around water coolers, basketball offices, and anywhere else people have more than a passing interest in March Madness. Some, such as Kentucky coach John Calipari, didn't hide their anger. Calipari is a longtime close friend with Drexel coach Bruiser Flint. Flint was Calipari's assistant at the University of Massachusetts and then replaced him as head coach, and the two talk almost every day. "I don't know how Iona gets in instead of Drexel," Calipari said, referring to Drexel being left out of the 68-team NCAA field.

Philadelphia will be an NIT kind of town on Wednesday, with St. Joseph's, Drexel, and La Salle all hosting National Invitation Tournament games that night in the consolation tournament. Drexel (27-6) hosts Central Florida (22-10) at the Daskalakis Center at 7:15 p.m., and St. Joe's (20-13) hosts Northern Iowa (19-13) at Hagan Arena at the same time, with both games being streamed on ESPN3. La Salle (21-12) hosts Minnesota (19-14) at Tom Gola Arena at 7 p.m., to be shown on ESPN2. In the College Basketball Invitational, Penn (19-12)

CINCINNATI - Dominique Morrison scored 19 points Sunday to lead Oral Roberts (8-4) to a 64-42 victory over previously unbeaten Xavier, which played with three of its starters suspended. The eighth-ranked Musketeers (8-1) didn't have point guard Tu Holloway, shooting guard Mark Lyons, or freshman forward Dez Wells, who account for 40 percent of their points. The trio was suspended for a brawl against crosstown rival Cincinnati. Penn State 72, Mount St. Mary's 43 - Tim Frazier led five Nittany Lions (7-5)

ORAL ROBERTS HAS either committed a commendable act of charity or blatant patronage. You make the call. Yesterday, the university hired Sean Sutton to be an adviser to his brother, Scott, who is the head basketball coach. In 2006, Sean succeeded his father, Eddie, as head coach at Oklahoma State. That was after his dad took a medical leave following an auto accident in which he was cited for driving under the influence. In 2008, Sean was pressured to resign after two lackluster seasons.

Kalana Greene scored 15 points last night to help top-ranked Connecticut rout ninth-ranked West Virginia, 60-32, for it 72d straight win and 16th Big East tournament championship. Greene made her first seven shots and grabbed 12 rebounds to win most outstanding player honors for the tournament, in Hartford, Conn. The Huskies (33-0) have won five of the last six conference tournaments and enter the NCAA tournament unbeaten for the fifth time in school history. UConn won national titles in 1995, 2002, and 2009.

The words displayed on the baseline at the Oral Roberts arena say a lot about what people need to know about the university, the basketball program, the attitude at one of America's best-known evangelical meeting points: "Expect A Miracle. " OK, so maybe it's a bit irreverent to be looking for miracles on a basketball court. Then again, this is the NCAA Tournament, and the basketball program has, of late, been one of the best things going at the troubled campus in Tulsa, Okla. The 13th-seeded Golden Eagles (24-8)

Mike Green matched his career high with 24 points and No. 12 Butler used a big second-half run to beat Cleveland State, 70-55, in Indianapolis, for its fifth Horizon League championship and first automatic berth in the NCAAs since 2001. Butler (29-3) blew a 14-point lead in the first half but pulled away again midway through the second half and took a 60-44 lead with 6 minutes to go on consecutive 3-pointers by Drew Streicher and reserve Zach Hahn. J'Nathan Bullock, who led Cleveland State (21-12)

Playing with Rick Pitino's signature style - a little full-court pressure, some timely three-point shooting, high energy at both ends of the court - Louisville made Pitino the 17th active Division I coach with 500 career wins in an 85-75 victory at home over Marshall last night. Though Pitino received a rousing ovation at the final buzzer, he called the milestone "insignificant" and was more pleased with his team's performance as the Cardinals (6-3) snapped a two-game losing streak "We tried to suffocate them with our defense," Pitino said.