Tulsa
Southern Arkansas
Tulsa Holds on to Beat Southern Arkansas, 56-51
12/11/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 11, 2005
Box Score | Quotes | Notes
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Tulsa built a 31-7 first-half lead and survived a furious come-back before securing a 56-51 win over Southern Arkansas Saturday before a crowd of 4,861 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
The Hurricane had to sweat out a sloppy second half in which they had 15 turnovers and shot just 5-for-16 from the field.
Southern Arkansas (3-5) scored the last five points of the first half, then outscored Tulsa (3-4) 16-5 to open the second half and pull to 36-28 with 10:50 to play. The Muleriders closed to 45-40 on a layup by Kenny Langhorne with 5:27 left.
Langhorne, who led the Muleriders with 17 points, added two free throws and two mid-range jumpers as Southern Arkansas pulled within 48-47 with 2:06 to play.
Sophomore Brett McDade, who led Tulsa with 16 points, made two free throws with 1:50 left, then freshman Ray Reese made one of two to give the Hurricane a 51-47 advantage at 1:28.
Point guard Dion James salvaged a rough outing by making two free throws at 1:03 to give TU breathing room at 53-47.
"It was definitely a tale of two halves," said first-year Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik. "We played really well in the first half, particularly defensively, then turned it over and missed free throws throughout the second half."
Tulsa shot 50 percent, had just six turnovers and outrebounded the Muleriders 22-11 while limiting them to 5-of-24 shooting in setting a Reynolds Center record for fewest points by an opponent in a half.
Tulsa, which led 31-12 at the break, finished by shooting 42.9 percent to 29.8 for Southern Arkansas.
