Tulsa Falls at Houston 64-61

Wednesday, January 4

Houston, Texas

8 p.m.

Tulsa

7-7, 1-1

Houston

12-3, 3-0

Tulsa

Houston

Tulsa Falls at Houston 64-61

1/4/2017 10:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

BOX SCORE PDF I BOX SCORE HTML I SEASON STATS

It was a game that came down to the last seconds as the Houston Cougars held on for a 64-61 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Wednesday night at Hofheinz Pavilion in front of 3,415 fans.

Houston (12-3, 3-0 AAC) connected on its final seven free throws in the final 1:37 overcoming a 59-57 deficit, as Tulsa (7-7, 1-1 AAC) was held to just two free throws over that final stretch. The last field goal came by Tulsa's Junior Etou with 1:44 on the clock to give the Hurricane its two-point lead.

Corey Henderson led the Hurricane with 16 points in 19 minutes off the bench, while Jaleel Wheeler added 10 points. Houston had four double-figure scorers, led by Damyean Dotson's 18 points.

Henderson hit two free throws with 0:13 remaining to pull the Hurricane to within one point at 62-61. A quick foul put Houston's Wes VanBeck to the line, where he converted both freebies. Henderson's three-point attempt in traffic at 0:05 was blocked, and after grabbing the rebound tried to get off a two-point attempt that fell short.

For the game, Tulsa's free throw shooting, converting 20-of-22 from the line for a season-best 91-percent, and its' three-pointers on 7-of-13 kept the Hurricane in the game, and leading for a good portion of the contest. Tulsa finished the game, just 37-percent from the field, making only 10-of-33 shots from two-point range. The Cougars shot just 36-percent from the field and 28-percent from three-point range, while also shooting a strong percentage from the line at 73 percent.

After trailing 32-28 at halftime, the Cougars took its first lead since the first half on a dunk by Danrad Knowles at the 12:33 mark, but Pat Birt's three-pointer on Tulsa's possession as the shot clock was down to the wire put Tulsa back ahead 44-43. The Cougars regained the lead and other than four more ties, didn't retake the lead until Martins Igbanu's free throw put the Hurricane ahead 57-56 at the 2:34 mark. There were two more ties, making it 14 total ties for the game, before the Cougars took a 60-59 lead on a VanBeck free throw.

It took the Hurricane nearly 6:30 into the game to score its first basket when Igbanu scored a layup at the 13:32 mark, but Tulsa only trailed 3-2 at that point. Pat Birt knocked through a three-pointer to give the Hurricane a 5-2 lead. The Cougars tied the score on the next possession, and the game was tied three more times in the first half.

It was the Tulsa bench that would give the Hurricane a 32-28 halftime lead, scoring 23 of Tulsa's 32 first-half points.

With the scored tied at 20, Henderson's three-pointer at the 4:39 mark put Tulsa ahead 23-20, and it was a lead that the Hurricane would hold for the remainder of the first half, building it to as many as six points, 32-26, at the 1:05 mark.

Henderson led all scorers in the first half with 12 points, making all three of his treys, while Igbanu and Travis Atson had six and five points, respectively, off the bench.

Tulsa returns home next Wednesday, Jan. 11, to face the Memphis Tigers, led by former Golden Hurricane head coach Tubby Smith. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Tickets for the game are available online at TulsaHurricane.com or by calling the TU athletic ticket office at 918.631.GoTU (4688).

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.