Big Second Half Propels Tulsa Past Northwestern Oklahoma State on Monday Night

Monday, October 30

Reynolds Center

7 PM

Tulsa

Northwestern Oklahoma State

Photo by: Bill Powell

Big Second Half Propels Tulsa Past Northwestern Oklahoma State on Monday Night

10/30/2017 9:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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TULSA, Okla. — Junior Etou scored 22 points and Tulsa went on a 25-4 run in the second half as it outscored Northwestern Oklahoma State 52-29 in the final period to roll to a 96-65 exhibition game victory on Monday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Etou needed just 20 minutes and a 9-of-12 shooting effort to reach his game-high total for the Golden Hurricane, which improved to 65-2 in exhibition games since 1969. The senior forward also pulled down seven rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end.

DaQuan Jeffries added 15 points and six rebounds, while Corey Henderson Jr. and Martins Igbanu each came off the bench to score 11 points and 10 points, respectively.

Tulsa dominated the Rangers in the paint, outscoring the visitors 44-10, and it scored 17 second-chance points off 20 offensive rebounds.

Meanwhile, Cody Halvorson paced Northwestern Oklahoma State, a Division II program in the Great American Conference, with 16 points behind a 4-of-11 effort behind the arc.

Northwestern Oklahoma State trimmed an eight-point halftime deficit to 50-46 with 17 minutes to play before the Golden Hurricane offense went on a 25-4 run over the next eight-and-a-half minutes to pull away for good.

Curran Scott started the flurry with a pair of layups before Jeffries and Elijah Joiner also scored inside, as Tulsa racked up 12 points in the paint during the stretch. Henderson Jr. drilled a 3-pointer and minutes later found Darien Jackson on a fastbreak for a layup that brought the crowd to its feet.

Another triple from Jeffries and four more points from Igbanu capped the run and pushed the TU lead to 75-50 with 9:06 remaining.

From there, the advantage never dipped below 20 and a basket by Lawson Korita with less than two minutes to go gave the home squad its largest lead of the night, 31, on its way to the 96-65 final score.

The Golden Hurricane started strong in the first half with an 8-0 run out of the gate as the Tulsa defense limited the Rangers to just two shot attempts in the first four minutes. TU took that 8-0 lead to the first media timeout before Northwestern Oklahoma State started to heat up from the outside.

Halvorson hit the first of nine first-half 3-pointers for Northwestern Oklahoma State that kept the Rangers in the game.

Etou countered the Northwestern Oklahoma State scoring with nine straight points of his own to keep the Hurricane ahead, 25-19. The senior would finish the half with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting.

With its early success behind the arc, Northwestern Oklahoma State relied on the long-ball midway through the half as they attempted nine consecutive treys, but only connected on a pair.

Etou, Sterling Taplin and Corey Henderson Jr. all connected from behind the arc for a 33-24 lead. The Hurricane then went on a 7-0 spurt, capped by a triple from Scott that gave the home squad its largest lead of the half, 40-29, and Tulsa went to the locker room at intermission with a 52-46 lead.

Tulsa will close exhibition play at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4, when it hosts Missouri S&T at the Reynolds Center.