Hot-Shooting Hurricane Down Manhattan on Saturday, 80-66

Saturday, December 16

Reynolds Center

6 PM

Tulsa

7-4

Manhattan

4-6

Manhattan

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Hot-Shooting Hurricane Down Manhattan on Saturday, 80-66

12/16/2017 8:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. — Junior Etou scored a game-high 24 points and Tulsa shot 54.2-percent to score an 80-66 win over visiting Manhattan on Saturday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Etou hit nine of his 12 attempts from the floor and converted six free throws for his fifth game this season of at least 20 points to lead the Golden Hurricane (7-4), who has won five of its last six games. The senior also had four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 33 minutes of action.

He was joined in double-figures by Corey Henderson Jr. and Sterling Taplin, who scored 13 points and 12 points, respectively.

TU just missed out on its best shooting effort of the season (.544) against a Jaspers (4-6) team that came into the contest holding opponents to just 43.9-percent shooting. The 80 points scored by the Hurricane are the most that the Jaspers have surrendered this season.

"I thought we had great intensity to start the ball game on both ends of the court," head coach Frank Haith said. "We knew Manhattan would be aggressive and assertive defensively. We didn't turn the ball over early, which is good. We shared the ball and we got good shots. But I thought our mindset and our preparation going into this game was really, really good and it showed in terms of how hard we played."

Meanwhile, Manhattan was led by Zane Waterman's 17 points, while Pauly Paulicap added 16. The Jaspers were held to 44.8-percent shooting.

The Jaspers scored the first two baskets of the game, but TU countered with a 13-0 run and never looked back as it shot a blistering 65.2-percent in the opening half.

Etou had the first six points for the Hurricane on his way to 14 for the first 20 minutes. The senior hit 7-of-8 from the floor and his jumper with 8:17 left in the half started a run of eight straight makes for TU as it continued to build on its lead.

Darien Jackson, who made the first start of his career, drove in for a layup before another jumper from Etou. Henderson Jr. then took over from behind the arc, where he hit four 3-pointers in the final five minutes on his way to 13 first-half points.

In all, the Hurricane closed the half on a 13-2 run to take a 46-28 lead to the break.

Taplin started the second half with a steal and layup for a 20-point cushion and Jaleel Wheeler's layup made it 54-34 with 16:28 to go in the game.

Minutes later, the Jaspers got within 11 at 58-47 following back-to-back 3-pointers, but Lawson Korita hit a trey of his own and Etou converted an old-fashioned three-point play to reclaim momentum for the Hurricane.

Manhattan trimmed the TU lead to 11 once more, this time with 7:13 remaining, but Curran Scott's three-point play extended the advantage and the Jaspers would get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

Geno Artison, Martins Igbanu and Etou all hit free throws down the stretch as TU closed out the 80-66 victory.

TU will close non-conference play at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 19, when it travels to Stillwater for a matchup with Oklahoma State (8-2).

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