The SMU Men’s basketball team was defeated by the Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles Monday night in pre-season play.

After a nail-biting 65-64 victory against Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday at Moody Coliseum, the team headed straight to Tulsa to continue on in the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Consolation Rounds.

Oral Roberts set the tempo early on in the game with a jumper by the Golden Eagle’s leading scorer, Dominique Morrison. Six minutes into the game the Mustangs were 0-5 before shooting guard London Giles was able to put the Ponies on the score board with a 3-point basket.

With 13:03 left on the clock, SMU was able to gain the lead 7-4 after freshman Jalen Jones completed a layup. However, a series of fouls on the Mustangs allowed ORU to regain the lead in no time at all. As the first half went on, SMU was unable to hold back the Golden Eagles as they added more points to the board. At the end of the first half, the Mustangs were in a 13-point deficit with a score of 30-17.

Coming back onto the court for the second half SMU quickly proved to ORU that they would have to work to keep the lead. Early on in the 2nd half Ryan Manual, a freshman from Houston, set the tone with a slam dunk to narrow the gap to 29-34.

Despite outscoring the Golden Eagles 39-32 in the 2nd half, SMU was unable topple ORU to finish successfully.

Senior forward Robert Nyakundi led the stampede in scoring with 16 points during his 37 minutes of play. Jalen Jones and London Giles were not far behind Nyakundi with 12 points each.

During the game SMU shot 40 percent from the field. SMU finished with only nine turnovers as compared to ORU’s 15.

Monday night’s game is the Mustangs third loss in the NIT tournament after falling in the first two games against Colorado State and Fresno State. The Mustangs have a current overall record of 2-3.

SMU will continue on in the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off Consolation Rounds on Tuesday when they take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 5 p.m. at the ORU Mabee Center.