Tulsa
Tulane
Tulsa Edged by Tulane 76-75 in OT Thriller
1/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2009
Final Stats 
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Final Stats
NEW ORLEANS - For a series in which the two teams have become accustomed to nail-biting games, the result of Wednesday night's clash between Tulsa and Tulane at Fogelman Arena was no surprise as the second half waned down and the game spilled into overtime.
Both teams scored 33 points in each of the first and second halves, but Tulane put in 10 points to Tulsa's nine in the extra period to defeat the Golden Hurricane 76-75. Tulsa fell to 12-7 and 2-2 in Conference USA play, while Tulane improved to 8-10 and 2-3 in C-USA.
Junior guard Ben Uzoh matched a season-high with 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field and added five assists. Junior center Jerome Jordan scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds and added four blocks. Sophomore guard Justin Hurtt scored 13 points, while junior forward Bishop Wheatley contributed 11 points.
Tulsa shot 50 percent from the field on 29-of-58 shooting for the game, hit 4-of-13 three-pointers and went 13-of-18 from the free throw line. Tulane shot 46 percent from the field on 28-of-61 shooting in the game and made 17-of-23 free throws. The Hurricane outrebounded Tulane 37-30, but the Green Wave scored 20 points off 18 Tulsa turnovers, to Tulsa's four points off 10 Tulane turnovers.
The last five games of the series - marked by the time that Doug Wojcik of Tulsa and Dave Dickerson of Tulane arrived on their respective campuses - have been decided by four points or less, and the margin of victory for either team in that time span has been a mere two points. This was the second consecutive overtime game between the two foes, as Tulane won 67-65 in Tulsa during the 2008 season.
In this installment of the budding rivalry, besides the symmetrically even halves and the one-point difference in overtime, the score was tied 10 times and the lead changed hands 23 times.
In the overtime period, Tulsa and Tulane each shot 4-of-6 from the floor, but the Green Wave hit on two of its four free throw attempts, while the Golden Hurricane made only 1-of-3 free throws. TU's one three-point attempt fell short with two seconds left in the game.
Tulane led 76-73 and the Hurricane got the ball with 15 second left, but senior forward Ray Reese's three-point attempt fell short and the ball went out of bounds off of a Tulane player as one-tenth of a second showed on the clock. On the in-bounds pass, Hurtt tipped in a layup, but it was not enough, and the final score stood 76-75.
Tulsa led by as many as eight points in the first half, and gained the advantage by breaking a tight 12-11 lead with a jump shot in the paint by Jordan followed by a jumper by Uzoh to make the score 16-11.
With the score 19-14 in favor of TU after a Hurtt layup, the two teams traded baskets - an Uzoh layup followed by a three-pointer by Tulane's Eric Vianney, a three-pointer by Hurtt, a jumper by Tulane's Kevin Sims and a three-pointer by Glenn Andrews. After the traded shots, Tulsa found itself ahead 27-19 with 8:02 left in the first half.
Tulane fought back to ties the score at 27 apiece with 4:33 to go in the half, and the teams battled into the break tied at 33-33.
Tulane's largest lead came at the 13:10 mark of the second half, as the Wave's Daniel Puckett, who scored 22 points on the evening, hit a jumper while fouled and made the ensuing free throw to give Tulane a 46-42 lead. Tulsa re-took the lead at 51-50 on a layup by Uzoh off a pass by Wheatley with 10:42 to go in the game.
The Golden Hurricane built a five point lead on two made free throws by Uzoh and a pair of free throws by Wheatley. Tulane again took the lead at 56-55 with 6:57 remaining. From Uzoh's layup at the 10:42 mark until Wheatley made a layup with 6:44 left in the game, Tulsa did not hit a field goal and its only points came on the four free throws.
The lead switched teams three more times, as neither squad was able to pull away and establish an insurmountable lead down the stretch. Hurtt was fouled shooting a three-pointer with TU down by one point, and made all three free throws to give Tulsa a 66-64 lead with 39 seconds remaining.
At the other end of the court, Tulane got two free throws on Jordan's fifth foul, and Robinson Louisme, who made 5-of-5 free throws in the game, made both to knot the score at 66 apiece. Andrews' three-point attempt with one second left clanged off the goal and the second half ended deadlocked at 66-66.
The Golden Hurricane travels to El Paso, Texas, on Saturday to battle UTEP at 8 p.m. CT. Tulsa's next home game is Wednesday, Jan. 28 against UAB at 7 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. All Tulsa men's basketball news and information can be found online at www.TulsaHurricane.com.
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