Tulsa Falls at Tulane 81-69; Gets Seventh Seed at The American Championship

Sunday, March 5

New Orleans, La.

3 p.m.

Tulsa

14-16, 8-10AAC

Tulane

6-24, 3-15AAC

Tulsa

Tulane

Tulsa Falls at Tulane 81-69; Gets Seventh Seed at The American Championship

3/5/2017 6:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

BOX SCORE PDF I BOX SCORE HTML I SEASON STATS I THE AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET

Tulsa freshman Martins Igbanu had his first career double-double with a career-highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn't enough against the hot-shooting Green Wave as Tulane posted an 81-69 win on Senior Day at Devlin Fieldhouse in front of a crowd of 1,466 fans Sunday afternoon.

With the loss, Tulsa (14-16, 8-10 AAC) will be the No. 7 seed at the American Athletic Conference Championship later this week. The Hurricane will have a rematch against this same Green Wave team, the No. 10 seed, on Thursday with a 6 p.m. (ET)/ 5 p.m. (CT) tip-off time.

Tulane (6-24, 3-15 AAC) shot 51-percent from the field and 46-percent from three-point range as Cameron Reynolds scored 31 points to lead three Tulane players in double-figures. Tulsa converted on 44-percent of its shots and 32-percent from three-point range.

The Hurricane bench was held scoreless for the first time this season, as four of the five Tulsa starts scored in double-digits. Behind Igbanu's 19 points, Jaleel Wheeler added 15, Pat Birt 14 and Junior Etou 13.

Tulane scored the first two second-half points for a 16-point lead before Tulsa scored the next seven points to cut the Wave lead to single digits, 45-36, with 17:26 on the clock.

The Green Wave responded by out-scoring Tulsa 11-2 over the next three minutes for a 56-38 lead with 14:40 to play.

With the Tulsa deficit back down to nine points at the 11:22 mark, a Junior Etou foul and a scuffle between the two teams on the Tulsa bench side of the court resulted in assistant coaches Dennis Felton and Kim English being ejected for helping to prevent more than a scuffle on the court. Tulane scored the next seven points for a 17-point lead at 66-49 just under the 10-minute mark.

The Hurricane cut the Tulane lead back to nine points, 74-65, at the 4:21 mark, but that's as close as Tulsa would get the remainder of the contest.

To start the game, Tulsa jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the first three minutes and led 12-8 before the Green Wave went on a 16-2 run to take a 24-14 lead with 8:23 remaining on the first half. Tulane increased its lead to 12 points at 26-14 before Igbanu's traditional three-point play cut the Wave lead to seven points, 26-19, at the 6:46 mark.

The Green Wave pushed the lead back to double digits on a Reynolds three-pointer just 16 seconds later, and held a double-figure lead for the remainder of the half with its largest lead of 14 points going into halftime

In the first 20 minutes, Tulane hit 6-of-14 three-pointers, while connecting on 46-percetn overall from the field. The Green Wave also made 13-of-15 free throws, as Tulsa connecting on its only two freebies.

Tulane scored 18 points off of 11 Tulsa turnovers, while Tulsa just had three first-half points of off Green Wave turnovers.

Reynolds scored 23 first-half points for the Wave, hitting 6-of-10 from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point range.

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