Tulsa
East Carolina
Tulsa Sinks Pirates 85-73
2/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2010
Box Score |
Box Score 
Greenville, NC (AP) -- Justin Hurtt had a career-high 34 points to lead Tulsa to a 85-73 victory over the East Carolina Pirates on Saturday night in front of 5,013 fans.
Hurtt connected on 11-of-16 field goals and 7-of-11 three-pointers. His 34 points was the most since Anthony Price scored 39 points on Jan. 1, 2005 against SMU. His seven treys was one shy of a school record eight three-pointers by Jason Parker against Wichita State on Dec. 4, 2002.
Jerome Jordan added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Hurricane, while Joe Richard had 13 points and Ben Uzoh tallied 10 points, all in the second half, and seven assists.
Hurtt wasn't the only player to reach 30 points, as Brock Young also totaled a career-high with 30 points for the Pirates.
Tulsa won its' 20th game of the season tonight and improves to 20-9 overall and 9-5 in C-USA play. The 20 wins gives the Hurricane 20+ wins for the fourth straight year. East Carolina fell to 9-19 overall and 3-11 in the league.
"It was a really good win for us. It's been two-and-a-half weeks since we've won. We're a good team but ran into some good competition. I was really concerned coming into tonight's game because we spent a lot of energy on Thursday night at Duke," said Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik. "This win gives our seniors have won 90 wins and that's pretty special for them and us."
"What I was really pleased with was that we scored 85 points and Justin Hurtt was terrific. He really shot rhythm shots.
After leading by seven points at halftime, the Hurricane took its' first double-digit lead of the second half at the 14:52 mark when Uzoh knocked down a three-pointer to make the score 50-40. ECU cut it to six points, but the Hurricane built the lead back to double-digits as Hurtt scored the next 10 points for Tulsa on a free throw and three straight three-pointers to put the Hurricane ahead 60-48 at the 10:38 mark.
Tulsa built its biggest lead to16 points, 69-53, with 7:16 left in the contest, and held its' double-digit lead til the final buzzer, despite Young's 14 points in the final seven minutes.
In the first half, Tulsa took a seven-point lead at 9-2 in the first five minutes of the game and expanded that to a first-half high of 11 points, 34-23, at the 2:51 mark of the first half. The Pirates cut the Hurricane lead to seven points at halftime, outscoring Tulsa in the final two minutes 6-2.
Hurtt led the Tulsa attack in the first half with 19 points on 6-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range. Brock Young had 15 points in the first half to lead the Pirates.
The Hurricane will close out the home regular season on Wednesday night against the SMU Mustangs, as Tulsa seniors Ben Uzoh, Jerome Jordan and Bishop Wheatley take the Donald W. Reynolds Center court for the final time. Fans are encouraged to arrive early for senior introductions prior to the game, approximately 15-20 minutes before the scheduled tip-off time of 7:05 pm.
