Scott Sutton was in hopes a nice-sized crowd would show up at the Mabee Center for the 50th edition of the Mayor's Cup on Saturday night. He ended up with 6,534 joining him at the corner of 81st and Lewis.
That's a slight uptick from 6,020 the last time Tulsa and Oral Roberts met at the Mabee Center in 2012.
This year's crowd witnessed the rebirth of Obi Emegano, who picked up where he left off in last year's rivalry clash against Tulsa. Emegano, who went down in ORU's fourth game last season, appears to be getting back to his old self, scoring 26 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists.
(His efforts earned him Player of the Week honors in the Summit League on Monday.)
After the game, Emegano elaborated on his burning passion for playing against Tulsa.
"We're looked at as kind of the little brother," he said, "and I don't appreciate it."
Prior to Emegano taking the podium, Tulsa forward D'Andre Wright spent a minute talking about how ORU players go harder after the Mayor's Cup.
"Coming into the season, I feel like they look forward to this game more than we do," Wright said. "I feel like they have it circled on their schedule."
Those words didn't sit well with TU coach Frank Haith.
"No one should want to play more than us," he said.
Either way, ORU now has a two-game winning streak in the metro showdown.
Now Sutton is calling for an annual dose of two Mayor's Cup matchups.
"(Former TU coach) Danny (Manning) and I had an agreement, and we were going to play twice," Sutton announced. "We were all set to play twice, and I think it would be great. They used to play it twice back in the 80s.
"But I guess Frank and his staff didn't want to play it twice. Hopefully some time in the future maybe they will."
It appears as though ORU has its arm outstretched waiting for a handshake to add another Mayor's Cup game to the schedule in the foreseeable future.
Question is: will TU leave ORU hanging?
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