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Tulsa
Rice
Tulsa Tops Rice, 62-58
1/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2010
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TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Ben Uzoh scored 17 points, including two emphatic second-half dunks over Rice players, as Tulsa kept the Owls winless in conference play with a 62-58 victory Saturday.
Donte Medder came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points and 7-foot center Jerome Jordan added 11 points and nine rebounds despite constant double-teaming.
Tulsa is 5-0 in Conference USA, 16-3 overall and 13-0 at home this season while extending its home court victory string to 21, the fifth best streak in the country.
Tamir Jackson led Rice, 6-13 and 0-6, with 18 points, all in the second half, followed by Trey Stanton with 11. The Owls trailed 60-51 with 51 seconds left but cut it to 62-58 with a late flurry before Jordan capped the afternoon with a free throw with 1.1 seconds left.
Medder provided a first-half spark for the Hurricane, making 4 of 6 shots and scoring nine points to help Tulsa's otherwise stagnant offense as Tulsa managed a slim 32-28 lead on the Owls, seeking their first road victory of the year.
The Owls collapsed on the post in their zone defense, limiting Jordan to eight field goal attempts and 6-10 Stephen Idlet to three shots. But wing players such as Justin Hurtt, who averages 15.3, and Bishop Wheatley could not take advantage, combining to make just 3 of 16 field goals while scoring four points each. Tulsa shot just 17 percent on 3-pointers (3-17).
With the rest of his team sputtering, Uzoh took matters into his own hands. He made a 3-pointer to give Tulsa a 38-37 lead after Rice had started the second half with a 9-3 run to regain the lead. Uzoh followed that with a drive down the middle and slammed the ball home over Lucas Kuipers to give Tulsa a 40-37 lead with 13:27 to play.
Jordan scored his first basket of the game with 7:08 left to give Tulsa a 49-41 advantage and Uzoh threw down another slam while being fouled by Arsalan Kazemi, making the free throw as well to give TU a 52-43 advantage.
"Every coach would like to have a player like Uzoh," said Rice coach Ben Braun. "He separates (himself) when the game is on the line. He just made some special plays."
"If anything, we wish Ben would do more of that," Wojcik said. "He's earned the right to do what he wants to do and shoot when he wants to shoot."
Except for the play of Uzoh, Wojcik was about as unhappy with his team as a winning coach could be. Just as Oral Roberts did Wednesday, the Owls paid scant attention to Wheatley and Bryson Pope, giving them additional men to clog the middle or shadow Hurtt.
The Owls led 9-4 early before consecutive steals and layups by Uzoh got the Hurricane untracked. Tulsa took its first lead at 10-9 on a drive by Medder and the lead changed hands nine times until Tulsa finally managed an 8-1 run to grab a 28-21 lead on another drive by Uzoh.
The Owls outrebounded Tulsa 35-34. Both teams shot poorly as Rice made 38 percent and Tulsa 40.4 percent.
