Tulsa Falls to SMU 76-53

Saturday, February 4

6 p.m.

Tulsa

6-412-10 < AAC>

SMU

20-4 (10-1AAC>

SMU

Tulsa

Tulsa Falls to SMU 76-53

2/4/2017 9:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

BOX SCORE PDF I BOX SCORE HTML I POST-GAME QUOTES I VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS I PRESS CONFERENCE I SEASON STATS

SMU (20-4, 10-1 AAC) shot a sizzling 63-percent in the second half and pulled away from Tulsa (12-10, 6-4 AAC) for a 76-53 victory Saturday night in front of 5,606 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Junior Etou and Sterling Taplin led the Hurricane with 18 and 12 points, respectively.
SMU's Sterling Brown had a game-high 27 points, followed by 19 from Shake Milton and 16 from Semi Ojeleye.

Leading by nine points at halftime, 28-19, SMU out-scored the Hurricane by 14 points in the second 20 minutes and led by double-digits through the final 11:34 after Brown's two free throws gave SMU a 47-36 lead at that point in the game. The Mustangs had its largest lead of 24 points at 69-45 with 3:39 remaining in the contest.

For the game, SMU scored 36 of their points from three-point range, converting 12-of-27 from long distance.

"We got beat by a really good team tonight. They're really, really good. They are a team that takes advantage of your mistakes. I thought, defensively, we were really good in the first half. I thought we missed shots and we lost a lot of confidence in what we were doing offensively, in terms of some of our perimeter guys," said Tulsa head Coach Frank Haith.

Tulsa improved its field goal percentage in the second half by 25-percent to 50-percent, nailing 11-of-22, but the Mustangs converted 17-of-27 in the final stanza. SMU held a 38-to-23 edge on the boards, including nine offensive boards that led to 10 points.

The loss was Tulsa's fourth in conference play this year, but the first that was more than a three-point deficit. It was the worst home loss for the Hurricane since falling by 23 points to #14 Wichita State on Nov. 20, 2013.

The two teams totaled just 21 points in the first nine minutes of the contest as SMU had a 14-7 lead after trailing 7-6. The Hurricane went on a 10-0 run to take a 17-14 lead when Sterling Taplin knocked through a 3-pointer with 7:37 left on the first-half clock.

The Hurricane went ahead 19-16 on two Etou free throws at the 7:02 mark, SMU scored the next 12 points to take a 28-19 lead into halftime.

The score was stuck on 20-19 with SMU leading by one point for over three minutes, from the 6:31 mark to 3:27 when SMU's Shake Milton ended the drought for the Mustangs with a three-pointer, but the scoreless streak continued for the Hurricane through the remainder of the half.

Tulsa's last field goal in the first half was Taplin's trey at the 7:37 mark.

The Hurricane shot just 26-percent from the field and 27-percent from three-point range through the first 20 minutes, while SMU converted 35-percent of its field goals and 36-percent from behind the arc. Tulsa was just 2-of-2 from the free throw line, while SMU made 5-of-6. Both teams had 10 turnovers, while Tulsa had a 9-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

Tulsa goes on the road for a Tuesday night game against the Memphis Tigers at the FedEx Forum. The game will tipoff at 6:00 p.m. and aired on ESPNU and as always can be heard on Big Country 99.5 FM Radio.

Follow Tulsa Men's Basketball on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TUMBasketball and Instagram at TulsaMBasketball. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane. For all news and information about Tulsa Basketball, go to www.TulsaHurricane.com.