TULSA, Okla. – Rogers State men's basketball opened up the 2011-12 season with a 78-45 exhibition loss to Oral Roberts University Tuesday night at the Mabee Center.

Both teams had to shake off the rust as evident in the opening period as the two squads combined for nine points in the opening five minutes with ORU leading 8-1. A Kenny Edwards breakaway dunk seven minutes into the contest cut the Golden Eagle lead to five. But ORU went on a 14 point run over the next four minutes to lead 24-5. From that point on the Hillcats wouldn't cut the Golden Eagle lead to less than 10.

At the half the Hillcats trailed 44-22 after shooting just 34.8 percent from the field. RSU connected on only 25 percent from behind the arc while ORU shot nearly 50 percent from the field in the opening stanza and a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.

RSU never held a lead against the NCAA Division I Golden Eagles nor did the Hillcats tie the game as ORU dominated the points in the paint outscoring RSU 34-10.

The Summit League favorites, ORU looked the part as they scored 25 points off 22 Hillcat turnovers while RSU forced the Golden Eagles into 11 turnovers.

The Hillcats were led in scoring by Kenny Edwards off the bench as the junior forward shot 4-of-6 from the field for nine points while pulling in a team high seven rebounds. Edwards led a Hillcat bench that posted 21 points.

Michael Craion and Steven Roundtree led ORU in scoring with 13 points each. Craion tallied a double-double with 12 boards.

RSU shot 30.4 percent from the field and a disappointing 44.8 percent from the free throw line.

ORU shot 42.2 percent from the field but hit only 5-of-18 from behind the arc while knocking down 76-percent from the charity stripe.

RSU returns to the Claremore Expo on Thursday, Nov. 3 to open the home schedule vs. Dallas Christian at 7 p.m. Live video and audio streaming of the game can be seen and heard by visiting www.rsuhillcats.com/live.