No. 5 Wichita State Edges Tulsa, 72-69, Despite Taplin's Career-High 26

Saturday, January 13

Reynolds Center

6:30 PM

Tulsa

10-8, 3-3

Wichita State

15-2, 5-0

Wichita State

Tulsa

Photo by: John Lew

No. 5 Wichita State Edges Tulsa, 72-69, Despite Taplin's Career-High 26

1/13/2018 9:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. — Sterling Taplin poured in a career-high 26 points, but No. 5 Wichita State edged Tulsa 72-69 in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday night at the Reynolds Center in the first-ever Havoc in the Heartland men's basketball game.

Taplin went 10-of-17 from the field and 6-of-10 behind the arc to lead the Golden Hurricane (10-8, 3-3), who shot 53.6-percent in the second half to rally. Taplin had seven assists and TU also got 14 points from Corey Henderson Jr. and a dozen from Junior Etou.

Tulsa outscored WSU in the paint, 30-24, and shot 45.8-percent for the game.

"Really proud of our kids and how hard they competed," head coach Frank Haith said. "I thought we laid it on the line and gave ourselves the chance to win the game. It was just a really good effort."

"It was a great time having that big of a crowd and I'm grateful to be at this school where we have this fan support," Taplin said. "They definitely helped us rally up."

Meanwhile, the Shockers (15-2, 5-0) extended their road winning streak to an NCAA-leading 11 games behind 16 points apiece from Landry Shamet and Conner Frankamp. Markis McDuffie came off the bench to add 10 points for the visitors, who were held to 41-percent shooting for their second-lowest total of the season.

Wichita State led 65-58 with four minutes to play after McDuffie's offensive rebound and basket, but Taplin countered with his fifth 3-pointer of the night to set the stage for a back-and-forth finish.

Frankamp answered with a triple of his own for a 68-61 cushion, only to see Taplin hit a jumper and his sixth trey of the contest that pulled TU within 68-66 and brought the raucous crowd to its feet with 2:11 to go.

After Frankamp answered with a trey, Henderson Jr. drilled another with 58 seconds to play that made it 71-69. Henderson Jr. nearly put TU ahead on its next trip down the floor, but his would-be go-ahead 3-pointer rattled down and out and the Hurricane was forced to foul Shamet with eight seconds left.

Shamet made one of two to push the lead to 72-69 and TU had one more chance. The Shockers fouled with four seconds left and Etou rebounded a missed free throw. Taplin had one more look at the game-winner, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out for the 72-69 final.

TU led for much of the first half until WSU bridged halftime with a 25-4 run that turned a 10-point Tulsa lead to 45-34 deficit.

However, TU battled back with an 11-2 run that cut the Wichita State advantage to 47-45 with 14:23 to play. The Shockers extended their lead to double-digits with 8:42 left, but a quick 6-0 spurt trimmed the deficit to 59-55 to set up for the thrilling finish.

The Hurricane offense started fast in the first half, hitting nine of its first 16 shots (56.3-percent), including a 5-of-6 start from behind the arc, to build an early lead. Martins Igbanu got TU going with a jumper in the paint before back-to-back 3-pointers from Taplin for an advantage that the home squad would hold for much of the half.

Igbanu scored again inside and Henderson Jr. and Elijah Joiner each followed with treys. Minutes later, Henderson Jr. hit his second 3-pointer of the half for a 23-13 lead.

After the Shockers cut it to 25-20, Taplin connected again from behind the arc and Etou scored inside to regain the double-digit advantage at 30-20.

However, Wichita State ended the half with a 16-2 run as part of its 25-4 stretch to grab a 36-32 lead at the break.

Tulsa will be back in action at 5 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday, Jan. 17 when it faces Temple (8-9, 1-5) on the road.

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