Five Tulsa Players Score in Double Digits in 74-59 Win Over Texas State

Saturday, December 17

7 p.m.

Tulsa

5-4

Texas State

5-5

Texas State

Tulsa

Five Tulsa Players Score in Double Digits in 74-59 Win Over Texas State

12/17/2016 9:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Stephanie Hall

Final Stats in PDF l Final Stats in HTML l Season Stats in PDF

Five Tulsa men's basketball players scored in double figures to lead the Golden Hurricane to a 74-59 win over Texas State on Saturday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. TU moved to 5-4 on the season, while TXST fell to 5-5 overall.

"Once we were able to secure rebounds and get stops, we were able to execute on our end," Head Coach Frank Haith said. "We had 19 assists today, which is a season high for sure, so we are starting to share the ball. Our execution is better, we shot the ball very well, but we still have to clean up the turnovers. That is a product of being a young team, and I think we'll get better as we keep working on that."

Sterling Taplin had team-highs of 13 points, seven assists and three steals, while Lawson Korita added 12 points and Pat Birt scored 11. Will Magnay and Jaleel Wheeler both totaled 10 points, while Wheeler had six rebounds, and four TU players had five boards.

"Sterling had a really good floor game with 13 points, seven assists and three steals," Haith said. "He did an outstanding job. He's just grown in the last three games."

Tulsa shot 51-percent from the field, including 42-percent from behind the arc and 68-percent (17-of-25) from the free throw line, while Texas State shot 40-percent from the field, 16-percent from three-point range and 80-percent (8-of-10) from the charity stripe.

The Golden Hurricane had a 38-27 lead in rebounds and a 19-12 advantage in assists, while the Bobcats had a 10-7 lead in steals and a 5-2 advantage in blocks.

TU had 34 points off the bench, while TXST had none, and 10 second-chance points to the Bobcats' four. Texas State had a 19-14 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Bobcats jumped out to a 12-5 lead at the 14:34 mark, and had a 15-9 advantage with 11:52 on the clock in the first frame. TU started the game just 2-of-5 in the first 8:08 of the contest, having five turnovers to begin the game.

TU battled back to pull to within three, 17-14, at the 10:23 mark, going on a 5-2 run to start to close the gap, and tied the contest at 21-all with 6:34 on the clock in the first half. The score was tied again at 27-27 with 3:23 remaining, and a three-pointer by Jaleel Wheeler gave TU the lead at the 2:47 mark (30-29). TU began the contest with a layup by Will Magnay, but trailed for the majority of the first frame, as the bucket at the 2:47 mark was just their second lead in the contest.

There were three more lead changes and two tied scores, including a 35-35 halftime score, in the final 2:28 of the first half.

Three lead changes and two tied scores started the second frame, but a three-pointer by Wheeler at the 16:57 mark gave Tulsa a 42-39 advantage, and from there TU continued to build their lead.

The Golden Hurricane claimed a 10-point advantage (51-41) at the 12:16 mark, a game-high 15-point lead to end the game and never trailed by more than eight-points in the final 12 minutes of the contest.

The Bobcats were led by Bobby Conley with 19 points, while Ojai Black scored 14, Nijal Pearson had 12 and Kavin Gilder-Tilbury had 10. No player had more than four boards for TXST, while Black had five steals and three assists.

Tulsa will return to action on Thursday, December 22 against Stephen F. Austin in the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii.