Tulsa Hits Century Mark in 100-96 Win Over UTSA on Tuesday Night

Tuesday, November 28

Reynolds Center

7 PM

Tulsa

4-3

100

UTSA

4-3

UTSA

Tulsa

100

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Hits Century Mark in 100-96 Win Over UTSA on Tuesday Night

11/28/2017 9:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score (.pdf) | Box Score (.html) | Postgame Quotes | Postgame Press Conference | Season Stats (.pdf)

TULSA, Okla. — Junior Etou led four players in double-figures with 20 points as Tulsa improved to 4-3 on the season with a 100-96 win over UTSA on Tuesday night in the program's 300th game at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Etou went 5-of-8 from the floor and hit eight free throws for his third game of at least 20 points this season for the Golden Hurricane. Sterling Taplin tied a season high with 18 points, while Curran Scott added 16 and Martins Igbanu neared a double-double with 10 points and game-high nine rebounds.

TU shot 48.5-percent, outscored the Roadrunners (4-3) 44-18 in the paint and held a 47-27 rebounding advantage. The Golden Hurricane also hit the century mark for the first time since a 101-92 win over Houston on Feb. 16, 2013.

"I thought we rebounded well with 15 offensive rebounds, which is something that we were wanting to do a better job of," head coach Frank Haith said. "They (UTSA) were a really good offensive rebounding team and they only got five. We didn't turn the ball over, so some of those were positives that we can take away from this game."

Meanwhile, Jhivvan Jackson led UTSA with a season-high 29 points off the bench, which was aided by a 14-of-15 effort at the free-throw line. The Roadrunners shot 45.3-percent and hit 15 3-pointers.

The Hurricane extended its 53-45 halftime lead to double-digits early in the second half as it opened the final period by hitting six of its first seven shots. A trey by Etou and layup from Taplin pushed the lead to a dozen, 69-57, with 14:50 to play.

Jackson hit four straight free throws to cut into the TU lead, but Taplin responded with the next five points and the home squad led by at least 10 until the final minutes.

UTSA's final five field goals all came behind the 3-point line and the Roadrunners went on a 9-0 spurt to slice the TU advantage to 87-83 with 2:21 remaining.

However, the Roadrunners would get no closer as Tulsa hit 11 free throws in the final two minutes and got a late basket from Scott to seal the 100-96 victory.

Tulsa jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the opening minutes as Etou scored five of his 13 first-half points for the quick cushion. The Hurricane held the upper-hand until Keaton Wallace's 3-pointer with 10:56 on the clock gave UTSA a slim 24-23 advantage, but it would prove to be its only lead of the night.

Jaleel Wheeler quickly got Tulsa back on top with a dunk that was followed by a 3-pointer from DaQuan Jeffries that started an 11-3 stretch for the home squad. Etou added an old-fashioned three-point play and Corey Henderson Jr. capped the run with one of Tulsa's seven triples in the first half.

UTSA again trimmed the TU lead to a point at 40-39, but once again the home squad responded with a run, this time a 9-0 stretch for its largest lead of the half. The Hurricane did most of its damage inside during the run with buckets from Geno Artison, Wheeler and Jeffries. Henderson Jr. again added a 3-pointer to the run and Tulsa would go on to take a 53-45 lead to halftime.

Tulsa will return to action at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, when it travels to Normal, Ill., for a matchup with Illinois State (3-3).