Tulsa
North Texas
Tulsa Falls to North Texas 67-61
1/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2006
Tulsa, Okla. -- Tulsa couldn't bounce back from a six-minute second-half scoring drought on Monday night and dropped a 67-61 decision to the North Texas Mean Green in front of 5,412 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Tulsa's Darold Crow was the only Hurricane player in double digits with a career-best 24 points as Tulsa dropped to 4-8 on the season. North Texas had four players in double-figures with Kendrick Davis leading the way with 21 points.
The Mean Green improved to 7-4 on the year heading into Sun Belt Conference play later this week.
"I thought our guys played really hard tonight. Unfortunately, we did not win the rebounding battle, but we shared the ball well and pushed the ball pretty well," said Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik.
The Hurricane held a 47-41 lead with 11:28 remaining in the game, and was out-scored by 11 points over the next 6:16 to trail 52-47. Brett McDade's three-pointer with 5:12 to play cut the North Texas lead to two points.
Tulsa eventually tied the score at 57 on a Chris Wallace three-point with 2:26 to play. With the score tied, North Texas' Kendrick Davis drove the lane, absorbed a hard foul by Tulsa's Sam Mitchell and banked in the left-handed shot. He added the free throw to make it 60-57.
Crow had his pass stolen by Quincy Williams on the next possession. Tulsa fouled Lionel Brown, who made one-of-two free throws, then after Anthony Price missed a hook for Tulsa, Brown made two free throws to make it 63-57 with 41 seconds left.
At halftime, Tulsa held a five-point lead as Crow paced the Hurricane first-half attack with 13 points. There were eight lead changes in the first 20 minutes as the Hurricane held a 33-28 lead.
Both teams began the game on a blistering pace, but cooled down as the first 20 minutes elapsed. Tulsa ended the first half shooting just 38-percent, while North Texas shot 42-percent from the field.
Tulsa's largest first-half lead was six points with 1:53 remaining, while the Mean Green had a three-point lead at the 10-minute mark for its largest lead.
Only five Tulsa free throws were scored in the final 3:53 of the first half, while North Texas scored its last field goal at the 2:03 mark.
Tulsa, which had been struggling throughout the season with turnovers, had just 12 giveaways in the game, one shy of Tulsa's lowest turnover output of the season. The Hurricane has had eight games with 20 or more turnovers.
The Hurricane out-scored North Texas in the paint, 24-20, and had 11 second-chance points for the game.
Tulsa travels to play Texas-Pan American on Saturday. Game time is 7:30 pm.
