Tulsa Advances to The American Quarterfinals with 66-60 Win Over Tulane

Thursday, March 9

Hartford, Conn.

5:00 pm

Tulsa

15-16

Tulane

6-25

Tulane

Tulsa

Photo by: John Lew

Tulsa Advances to The American Quarterfinals with 66-60 Win Over Tulane

3/9/2017 7:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Stephanie Hall

PDF Game Book | HTML Box Score | Season Stats l Video Highlights l Post Game Quotes l Tulsa Press Conference l Tulsa Interview l Tulsa Post Game Notes

Pat Birt, Corey Henderson and Sterling Taplin all scored in double digits to lead No. 7 seed Tulsa to a 66-60 win over No. 10 seed Tulane in the American Athletic Conference Championship First Round on Thursday night at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. The Golden Hurricane moved to 15-16 on the season, while the Green Wave concluded the year with a 6-25 overall mark.

Tulsa will return to action against No. 2 seed Cincinnati on Friday beginning at 6:00 pm Central on ESPNU in The American Quarterfinals.

"We really competed hard," Head Coach Frank Haith said. "On Sunday, I was disappointed in our effort down there. I thought we came back and had a great mind set, great focus and defensively we were really, really good. We just didn't make shots in the first half, but we maintained our defensive focus and that was the key to the game. Our effort was good throughout the ball game, and our defense kept us where we needed to be until our shots started falling in the second half. It was a great team effort."

Birt had a team-best 15 points, while Henderson added 12 points and Taplin recorded 10. Jaleel Wheeler recorded eight rebounds, and TK Edogi finished shy of a double-double with nine points and seven boards.

Tulsa shot 38-percent from the field, 31-percent from three-point range and 71-percent (22-of-31) from the free throw line, while Tulane shot 32-percent from the field, 23-percent from behind the arc and 87-percent (21-of-24) from the charity stripe.

The Golden Hurricane had a 39-32 lead in rebounds and a 10-9 edge in assists, while the Green Wave had a 7-3 advantage in blocks and a 6-4 lead in steals.

Tulsa jumped out to an early 11-4 lead after beginning the game shooting at a 66-percent clip with 15:09 to play in the first half. The Green Wave battled back after being down by nine points (13-4), to trail by just four, 17-13, at the 8:49 mark and the Hurricane took a three-point advantage, 26-23, into the break.

Taplin scored Tulsa's last field goal at the 12:27 mark in the first frame, as the Hurricane hit 11 free throws to close out the half. Etou and Taplin both had a team-best six points in the first half, while Wheeler added six rebounds.

Tulsa shot just 23-percent (6-of-26) from the field, nine-percent from three-point range (1-of-11) and hit 13-of-14 free throws in the first frame, while Tulane shot 33-percent from the field (9-of-27), 27-percent from behind the arc (3-of-11) and were 2-of-3 from the charity stripe.

Coming out in the second half, the Hurricane hit their first 8-of-9 shots, including 10 points by Birt for a 45-39 lead over Tulane with 11:55 remaining in the contest.

Tulane outscored Tulsa, 7-0, to take their first lead of the game, 46-45, at the 9:15 mark. There were four lead changes in the next 53-seconds for a 50-48 advantage by the Hurricane at the 8:22 mark and Tulsa held onto the lead for the remainder of the contest and earned the six-point win.

Tulane was led by four players in double-digits, including 17 points by Cameron Reynolds, 13 by Melvin Frazier, 11 by Blake Paul and 10 from Malik Morgan. Reynolds had a team-best eight rebounds and Blake pulled down seven.