Tulsa
USF
TULSA TAKES OUT USF IN OT 78-71
1/31/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2015Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Box Score 
Tulsa, Oklahoma - Rashad Smith's two three-pointers in overtime helped lead Tulsa to its' 11th straight win in a hard-fought 78-71 victory against the USF Bulls Saturday afternoon in front of 4,939 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Hurricane improved to 16-5 overall and stayed atop the American Athletic Conference standings with a 9-0 record.
Smith scored a season-high 21 points in 38 minutes, while fellow junior Brandon Swannegan had career-highs of 12 points, 15 rebounds and matched a career-best 5 blocked shots. It was Swannegan's first career double-double. James Woodard added 16 points, Rashad Ray 13 and Shaquille Harrison 12 points. Ray also dished out a career-high seven assists.
Corey Allen Jr. had a game and career-high 32 points to lead three Bulls' in double-figures as Anthony Collins added 19 points and Nehemias Morillo 15 points.
"A Great game. It was a great win for us. Give South Florida a lot of credit. Those guys played their butts off. Their guards were outstanding. We struggled guarding the ball and they took advantage of that. You have to give our guys a lot of credit too," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.
In overtime, Tulsa was 4-of-4 from the field, including 3-of-3 from three-point range, and 5-of-7 from the line to outscore the Bulls 16-9 in the extra period.
Woodard began the scoring in OT with a three-pointer to make the score 65-62. Smith's first three-pointer of the game came at the 2:45 mark to make the score 70-66. He knocked down his second trey with 0:56 left to put the Hurricane ahead 74-69. From that point, Ray connected on 4-of-4 free throws to give Tulsa its biggest lead of the game with a final score of 78-71.
Ray put the game into overtime with a driving layup in traffic that knotted the score at 62-62 with 0:20 left on the game clock. A three-point attempt from the left corner by Allen with 0:01 on the clock was on target, but bounced off the rim, sending the game into the extra period.
"Being in a game like that, we found a way. Rashad (Smith) and Brandon were terrific. We've gotten after our guys about rebounding and offensive rebounding. Brandon was terrific and obviously Rashad has been staying late working on his game, shooting the ball. He makes two big threes. We had a lot of guys step up and make big plays. I thought Brandon kept us in the game with his energy, blocking shots, getting timely rebounds, getting up second shots, and scoring," said Haith. "All in all it was a great win. I'm really proud of our guys and how we stayed true to the task and finishing the game off."
Tulsa took its first second-half lead, 45-44, at the 12:28 mark on a Harrison layup. The game was tied three more times before the end of regulation with the third time coming at the 3:12 mark when Woodard answered a Collins' three-pointer with a trey of his own to tie the score at 57.
Swannegan's layup at 1:08 gave Tulsa a 60-59 lead, but USF's Allen got a traditional three-pointer with a jumper and free throw with 0:45 left on the clock to put the Bulls back ahead by two points 62-60. Ray's game-tying layup came after Hurricane timeout at the 0:42 mark.
For the game, the Hurricane had a 20-5 advantage in second-chance points and received 27 points from the bench, 25 coming from Swannegan and Ray. USF shot consistently well the entire game, becoming just the second Tulsa opponent to shoot 50-percent against the Hurricane this year. The Bulls shot 50 percent in the first half (11-22), second half (12-24) and overtime (4-8).
Tulsa also out-rebounded the Bulls by a 44-30 count.
USF (7-15, 1-8 The American) sprinted out to a strong start, leading 8-0 in the first three minutes of the game, and at the 11:20 mark the Bulls held a 15-11 lead. In the first eight minutes, USF knocked down 62-percent of its shots, while Tulsa shot just 26-percent on 4-of-14 from the field.
Brandon Swannegan sparked the Hurricane with three straight baskets, tying the score at 15-15 and putting Tulsa ahead for the first time 19-17 on put-back layup with 7:54 left on the first-half clock.
The lead changed four more times after the 15-15 tie, while Tulsa built a four-point lead twice in the first half at 21-17 at the 7:16 mark and again at 23-19 with 5:39 remaining in the game. Collins' three-pointer put the Bulls ahead at 24-23, and Tulsa would tie the score three times in the final 3:15, but not regain the lead the rest of the first half.
Allen knocked down a long three-pointer with 0:04 on the clock to give USF a 33-30 lead going into intermission.
For the half, Smith had nine points and Swannegan eight to lead the Hurricane, while USF guards Allen and Collins totaled 12 and 11 points, respectively. Tulsa out-scored USF in the paint 18-6, and shot just 37-percent from the field. USF shot 50-percent from the field and knocked down 5-of-11 treys for 45-percent from three-point range.
Tulsa will be back in action Thursday night (Feb. 5) with a road game at Houston to be aired on ESPNews. Game time is 6:00 p.m. (CT). Tulsa returns to the Reynolds Center for a showdown with the SMU Mustangs on Saturday, Feb. 7th for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. Tickets are still available for the Tulsa-SMU game and can be purchased online at TulsaHurricane.com, by calling 918.631.GoTU (4688) or stopping by the Reynolds Center athletic ticket office.
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