Oral Roberts players celebrate at the end of a college basketball game against Florida in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Sunday. Oral Roberts won, 81-78. (AP Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Dunk City, say hello to Max Abmas and soaring Oral Roberts.

The fraternity of No. 15 seeds to reach the second week of the NCAA Tournament has its second member.

“It’s really just mind blowing,” forward Kevin Obanor said. “We’re grateful. Just happy that we got the win.”

Abmas and Obanor led the way as Oral Roberts pulled off another surprise Sunday night, reaching the round of 16 with an 81-78 victory over Florida.

The Golden Eagles erased an 11-point deficit on the way to their seventh straight victory. Next up for the Summit League Tournament champions, who eliminated No. 2 seed Ohio State in the first round, is a matchup with No. 3 seed Arkansas next weekend.

“As I told the guys, we’re not going to let somebody put a number in front of our name and tell us that that’s our worth, or that’s our value,” Oral Roberts coach Paul Mills said. “We’re not capitulating to anybody here.”

Obanor scored 28 points and Abmas (pronounced ACE-mus), the regular-season national leading scorer, finished with 26 as the Golden Eagles (18-10) closed the game on a 25-11 run to overcome the 11-point lead Florida held with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Oral Roberts joins Florida Gulf Coast — those guys from “Dunk City” — as the only No. 15 seeds to reach the round of 16 in tournament history. The private evangelical university in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has won twice in the tournament for the first time since 1974 when it reached the region final before losing to Kansas.

The Oral Roberts fans inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum chanted “Cinderella” during a wild celebration after the victory.

The chance to reach the Sweet 16 was a message hammered home by Mills after the opening victory over Ohio State. If they enjoyed beating the Buckeyes, Mills said, a week reveling in moving onto the next round would be even better.

They’ll get that chance.

“I told them, ‘I told you so,’ when we got to locker room,” Mills said. “I told you the Sweet 16 was a much better feeling.”

Oral Roberts took a 77-76 lead — its first lead since late in the first half — on Obanor’s basket with less than 3 minutes remaining. Noah Locke answered for the Gators, but DeShang Weaver, who missed his first five shots, hit an open 3-pointer for an 80-78 lead with 2:08 remaining.

Florida had a chance but failed to get good shots on its final few possessions. The Gators had a pair of turnovers, Locke missed a corner 3-pointer and, after Obanor split free throws, difficult 3-point attempts by Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis were off line.

Mann led the Gators (15-10) with 19 points, but went quiet late in the second half, failing to score over the final 17 minutes.

“I just missed shots,” Mann said. “We made the same plays we did in the first half. I got the same shots. I just missed shots. I didn’t get the wide-open looks I was getting.”

Locke finished with 17 points and Colin Castleton and Tyree Appleby both added 14 for the Gators. But there will be plenty of anger and frustration after losing in the second round for the third straight NCAA appearance and a game Florida felt it gave away.

The Gators shot 55%. They outrebounded the smaller Golden Eagles 37-24 and had 42 points in the paint. But Florida committed 20 turnovers and had just three made baskets over the final 9½ minutes.

Florida coach Mike White was worried about fatigue with his players and playing slower backfired.

“We were tired. These guys get you in rotation. I was hoping slowing it down would help us make better decisions,” White said. “We made some erratic decisions. We made some passes that boy I wish we had back.”

In the eight previous instances of a No. 15 seed playing in the round of 32, only Florida Gulf Coast was able to keep its magical run going. “Dunk City” ousted San Diego State in the second round before losing to Florida in the Sweet 16.

Most times, the elation of pulling off the first-round upset led to a second-round rout. Only Coppin State in 1997 lost by less than 10 points, an 82-81 defeat to Texas.

SMART FOUL

One of the biggest decisions of the game came with 3:11 left after Oral Roberts pulled within 76-75. The Golden Eagles fouled Florida’s Osayi Osifo, a 50% free-throw shooter on the season, as soon as the ball got in his hands. Osifo missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and Obanor scored to give the Golden Eagles the lead.

“We’re not getting stops. We’re not getting rebounds. We’re down one, so we need to give ourselves a chance here and so we took the gamble and it paid off,” Mills said.

FLORIDA HELP

Florida had Appleby back on the floor after suffering a gash on his head against Virginia Tech that knocked him out of the game. The Gators also had Omar Payne back after he was held out by a coach’s decision for the opener. Payne was ejected from the SEC Tournament quarterfinals early in the second half for a flagrant-2 foul against Tennessee’s John Fulkerson. Fulkerson suffered a concussion and facial fracture and did not play in Tennessee’s loss to Oregon State.

Payne scored four points in 11 minutes.

UP NEXT

The Golden Eagles faced Arkansas earlier this season, losing 87-76 to the Razorbacks on Dec. 20.

SYRACUSE 75

WEST VIRGINIA 72

Buddy Boeheim carried his father, Jim, to the Hall of Fame coach’s 20th Sweet 16 appearance, scoring 22 of his 25 points after halftime to lead 11th-seeded Syracuse past third-seeded West Virginia.

Jim Boeheim’s Orange got the better of another legend, Bob Huggins, in the second March Madness meeting between coaches with at least 900 Division I victories. Huggins won No. 900 when West Virginia beat Morehead State in the first round on Friday. Boeheim got his 982nd at Huggins’ expense.

Syracuse (18-9) advanced to face second-seeded Houston.

Buddy “Buckets” Boeheim erupted in the second half, when he made all but one of his six 3-pointers. He finished 6 of 13 from deep and 8 of 17 overall, and he helped put the game away with three late free throws.

Sean McNeil scored 23 points to lead the Mountaineers (19-10), who last made the Sweet 16 in 2018.

HOUSTON 63

RUTGERS 60

Quentin Grimes scored 22 points, Tramon Mark converted a soaring three-point play with 24 seconds left, and Houston beat Rutgers.

DaJon Jarreau overcame a series of bumps and bruises to score a key bucket down the stretch and finished with 17 points for second-seeded Houston (26-3).

The 10th-seeded Scarlet Knights (16-12) still had a chance after Mark’s free throws, but Geo Baker turned the ball over and Marcus Sasser made two more to extend the lead. Rutgers rushed back up the floor and Ron Harper Jr. let fly a potential tying 3 from the wing that clanked off the side of the rim as the final buzzer sounded.

Baker finished with 14 points for Rutgers but was holding back tears following his late turnover. Montez Mathis also had 10 points for the Scarlet Knights, who failed to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1976.

ARKANSAS 68

TEXAS TECH 66

Justin Smith had 20 points and played a key role in a final-play defensive stop, helping Arkansas beat Texas Tech and secure the program’s first trip to the Sweet 16 in a quarter-century.

In the final seconds of a tense finish, Smith found himself defending Kyler Edwards beyond the 3-point arc. Edwards drove into the paint with Smith on his hip and missed a layup, with Arkansas guard JD Notae snagging the rebound and sprinting up court to run the final seconds out.

The third-seeded Razorbacks are off to the regional semifinals for the first time since 1996 under famed former coach Nolan Richardson. Arkansas (24-6) next faces No. 15 seed Oral Roberts.

Star freshman Moses Moody had 11 of his 15 points after halftime for the Razorbacks, who led by 13 points only to have the sixth-seeded Red Raiders twice whittle that margin to a single point.

Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 20 points for Texas Tech (18-11).

Michigan 82

Texas Southern 66

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Juwan Howard got the win in his first NCAA Tournament game since taking over at Michigan, guiding Mike Smith and the top-seeded Wolverines to an 82-66 victory over Texas Southern on Saturday.

Smith scored 18 points and Hunter Dickinson added 16 as Michigan rolled into the second round without Isaiah Livers, who is out with a foot injury. Eli Brooks and Brandon Johns Jr. had 11 points apiece.

Howard and the Wolverines (21-4) had little trouble with the No 16 seed Texas Southern, but the absence of Livers could lead to adversity down the road. Next up is No 8 seed LSU tonight at 7:10 p.m. Eastern.