Tulsa
Buffalo (Yahoo! Sports Invitational)
Tulsa Holds Off Buffalo For 80-75 Victory
12/20/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2001
Laie, Hawaii - Tulsa's junior guard Dante Swanson scored a team-high 21 points and hit two free throws with five seconds remaining in the game to preserve the Golden Hurricane's 80-75 victory in the first round of the Yahoo! Sports Invitational in Laie, Hawaii.
The Hurricane relinquished the lead just twice in the game, leading by as many as nine points at intermission, 40-31, and three times in the second half. Tulsa's last nine-point lead came at 62-53 with 10:51 remaining in the game. Buffalo knifed into the lead and cut it to one point with less then :30 left in the contest.
Buffalo's Gabe Cagwin's three-pointer which would have given the Bulls the lead missed with 0:18 left, and the Hurricane connected on four free throws down the stretch to move its record to 7-1. Harrington hit the first two, giving Tulsa a 78-75 lead with 0:17 remaining, while Swanson nailed the final two free throws. Buffalo, members of the Mid-American Conference dropped to 5-3 on the season.
For the second straight game, Tulsa hit 100-percent from the free throw line, making all 16 attempts. Tulsa shot 48-percent from the field, while the Bulls shot 54-percent from the field and 61-percent from three-point range, connecting on 11-of-18 treys.
Junior forward Kevin Johnson and freshman guard Jarius Glenn added 10 points apiece, while Harrrington dished off a career-best 12 assists, the most for a Hurricane player since Reggie Shields had 13 assists in the 1989-90 season. Buffalo's Darcel Williams led all scorers with 24 points.
Tulsa will play the winner of the Navy-Montana game on Friday at 6:00 p.m. (HT)/ 10:00 p.m. (CT).
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