Tulsa Falls to Oklahoma State 71-67

Saturday, December 10

4 p.m.

Tulsa

4-4

Oklahoma State

7-2

Oklahoma State

Tulsa

Tulsa Falls to Oklahoma State 71-67

12/10/2016 8:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

GAME BOX PDF I GAME BOX HTML I POST-GAME QUOTES I PHOTO GALLERY I PHOTO GALLERY 2 l SEASON STATISTICS I POST-GAME PRESS CONFERENCE I GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Sterling Taplin and Jaleel Wheeler led Tulsa with 16 and 15 points, respectively, but it wasn't enough as the Golden Hurricane dropped a 71-67 decision to the Oklahoma State Cowboys Saturday afternoon in front of 7,333 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa (4-4) shot better from the field, 48 percent to 39.7 percent for Oklahoma State (7-2), but the Cowboys put up 15 more shots and had a 41 to 30 advantage in the rebounding department.

"Obviously this was a very disappointing loss. I thought our guys fought hard but it's very difficult to win when you give up 17 offensive boards and you turn the ball over 18 times. We have only 48 attempts and they had 63 attempts –– that's the difference in the game," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.

After trailing by 13 points in the first half and 10 in the second, the Hurricane
crawled back to tie the game at 57 on a Taplin layup and free throw with 5:26 remaining. A Wheeler three-pointer gave Tulsa's its first second half lead at the five minute mark, 60-57, but the Cowboys responded with a jumper and two three-pointers for an 8-0 run over the next 2:15 to take a 65-60 lead with 2:45 remaining in the game.

Taplin scored Tulsa's next five points to cut the OSU lead to two points, and Etou's layup with 0:40 left tied the score, 67-67, for the fourth time. Lindy Waters' jumper with 0:15 left put the Cowboys back ahead by two points, while Taplin's potential tying basket on a driving layup in the midst of multiple defenders missed.

"It's not that last shot that Waters hit or Sterling's layup there at the end. The difference in the game was our inability to rebound the basketball and turning the ball over," said Haith.

After nearly two scoreless minutes to start the contest, Tulsa's Lawson Korita scored the first two points of the game at the 18:24 mark. The score went back and forth with neither team leading by more than four points through the first 10 minutes.

Phil Forte's three-pointer put OSU ahead 17-15 at the 9:29 mark, and other than a Junior Etou free throw at 8:42 on the clock the Cowboys scored 12 points to take a 29-16 lead. Korita's layup at the 4:24 mark cut Tulsa's deficit to 11 points, 29-18, and snapped a 4:18 drought for the Hurricane.

Korita knocked down a three-pointer at the 3:07 mark, cutting the Tulsa deficit to seven points, 32-25. OSU took another double-digit lead at 11 points before the Hurricane scored five points straight points in 1:18 to make the score 36-30 with 31 seconds remaining. OSU went ahead by eight at halftime on a put-back by Mitchell Solomon at 0:01.

For the half, Korita led the Hurricane with nine points, followed by five points each from Etou and Jaleel Wheeler. Jeffrey Carroll led Oklahoma State in the fist 20 minutes with 11 points and six rebounds.

Tulsa continues its three-game home-stand next Saturday, Dec. 17, against the Texas State Bobcats with a tip-off time of 7:00 p.m. The Hurricane will travel to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic, where Tulsa will play three games from Dec. 22-25.

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.