Tulsa Holds Off Pesky Iona for 90-81 Win

Tuesday, December 8

Reynolds Center

8:00 p.m.

Tulsa

6-3

Iona

3-3

Iona

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Holds Off Pesky Iona for 90-81 Win

12/8/2015 10:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery

Shaquille Harrison and James Woodard combined for 45 points as Tulsa held on for a 90-81 victory over the Iona Gaels Tuesday night in front of 3,800 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Harrison scored 24 and Woodard added 21 points, as the Hurricane shot 52-percent from the field and 50-percent from three-point range. Rashad Ray and Pat Birt added 10 points apiece for Tulsa. Iona's A.J. English, ranked ninth in the nation for scoring coming into the game, tallied just five first-half points, but scored 26 of his game-high 31 points in the final 13 minutes of the contest.

Iona's Jordan Washington added 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Deyshonee Much added 14 points.

The Hurricane saw a 24-point lead evaporate over the final 4:42 as the Gaels trimmed its deficit to seven points with 1:12 to play when Ibn Muhammad hit a three-pointer to make the score 86-79.

"I thought we got out to a great start, and for about 30 minutes we controlled the game. We did a great job defensively on English, until the last 10 minutes of the game when he got going," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.

"We took our foot off the pedal, and that's scary when you have a lead like that. When you are playing a really good team like we just did that can be dangerous. They started making threes and we turned the ball over. I think that we have six or seven turnovers there in the last ten minutes. We will take the win though. Today was a quick turn-around game, and I am really proud of how we finished," added Haith.

The Gaels ended the game on a 19-4 run, including a 17-0 stretch that put Iona within the seven points on Muhammad's trey. Harrison made 1-of-2 free throws with 0:54 remaining to stop the Gaels' run of 17 consecutive points. Harrison's free throw was the first of just four Tulsa points scored over the final 5:07, all coming on free throws.

Tulsa's last field goal in the second half came at the 6:29 mark as D'Andre Wright's put-back off a missed three-pointer by Woodard made the score 82-61.

Tulsa ended the game connecting on only 53-percent of its free throws, 18-of-34, but Tulsa made 8-of-12 freebies in the final six minutes as the Gaels came storming back. In that six-minute span, Tulsa was 0-of-5 from the field and had three turnovers.

Despite going cold late in the game, the Hurricane came out after intermission and made six of its first eight shots to take a 17-point lead at 58-41. After a steal and layup by Harrison, a Birt layup off a Ray steal, and the Hurricane went up by 20 points, 62-42, with 15:14 remaining in the contest.

Iona was red-hot early in the game and jumped out to a 15-6 lead on an English jumper at the 14:10 mark, before the Hurricane went on an 11-2 run over the next 2:16. Tulsa took its first lead of the game, 18-17, at 11:52 when Woodard knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the key.

After Pat Birt's trey at the 8:12 mark gave Tulsa a 25-22 lead, it's biggest thus far in the game, Iona's Much connected on a three-pointer of his own for a 25-25 tie. The Hurricane outscored Iona 5-0 and took a six-point lead at 33-27 when Harrison scored on a breakaway layup.

Marquel Curtis' layup at the 2:36 mark to make the score 37-30 started a 9-2 run to end the first half as the Hurricane took a 44-32 lead into intermission.

Harrison led Tulsa with 12 first-half points, followed by nine from Woodard, eight from Birt and seven from Ray. Much led the Gaels with 12 first-half points. The Hurricane shot 55-percent from the field and 60-percent from three-point range, while Iona cooled-ff and finished the first half shooting 44-percent from the field and 50-percent from behind the arc. The Gaels had 12 first-half turnovers, as Tulsa had six steals and only five turnovers of their own.

Tulsa will be on the road for a Sunday afternoon game against the Southwest Missouri State Bears in Springfield, Missouri. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (CT). The game can be seen on ESPN3.

Follow Tulsa Men's Basketball on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TUMBasketball and Instagram at TulsaMBasketball. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane. For all news and information about Tulsa Basketball, go to www.TulsaHurricane.com.