Taplin Leads Tulsa to Season-Opening Win Over Alcorn State, 73-56

Tuesday, November 6

Reynolds Center

7 PM

Tulsa

1-0

Alcorn State

0-1

Alcorn State

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Taplin Leads Tulsa to Season-Opening Win Over Alcorn State, 73-56

11/6/2018 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score (.pdf) | Postgame Press Conference | Photo Gallery

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa opened the season with a 73-56 victory Tuesday night over Alcorn State at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Senior Sterling Taplin had game-highs of 16 points and 5 assists, including 12 second-half points as all 11 Golden Hurricane players scored.

Sophomore guard Elijah Joiner added 11 points for the Golden Hurricane (1-0), while Martins Igbanu and DaQuan Jeffries tallied eight points with Lawson Korita and Jeriah Horne scoring seven apiece. Additionally, Curran Scott had a team-high seven rebounds and added two assists and a pair of steals in his 23 minutes off the bench.

The Hurricane ended the game with 49-percent shooting from the field, while holding a 34-30 edge in rebounding and forcing Alcorn State (0-1) into 19 turnovers. Tulsa outscored the Braves 24-4 off turnovers, 32-11 in the paint and the Hurricane bench outscored the Alcorn State reserves 33-14.

Alcorn State's Deshaw Andrews led all scorers with 20 points and added 5 rebounds and 4 steals.

"Defensively we were really good in the second half. First game jitters, I thought, with balls getting deflected and we didn't shoot free throws well, had some bunnies around the hole that we missed," said Tulsa head coach Frank Haith. "But we'll get better in that regards as the season progresses. I thought our defense was really outstanding in the second half and that carried us."

With a 53-52 advantage in the second half, Tulsa scored the next 10 points to extend the lead out to 63-52 with 5:52 remaining. After two Joiner free throws, Scott made a steal and fed Lawson Korita for a driving layup. Jeffries then hit a corner trey 12 seconds later to put Tulsa ahead 59-52. Taplin added two free throws and a layup that gave Tulsa the 11-point lead.

In the final 5:50, the Hurricane defense held the Braves to just four points, while scoring 10 of its own for the final win margin.

Tulsa came out in the second half and increased its 3-point halftime lead to 10 points in the first nine minutes, 51-41, holding the Braves to just 4 points in that timespan before Alcorn State's 11-2 run that brought the deficit to just one point.

The first half was close with 13 lead changes and the largest lead of only 7 points, when Tulsa was ahead 15-8 at the 13:16 mark. Alcorn State whittled that lead down to tie the score at 20, before taking a one-point lead at 23-22 with 8:37 on the game clock.

There were three more ties in the remaining 8-plus minutes of the first half.

The visitors took its biggest lead at 31-28 on a Khari Jabriel Allen trey at the 5:02 mark. Joiner's two free throws tied the score put Tulsa ahead 38-37, and a Taplin layup with five seconds left in the first half gave the Hurricane a 40-37 lead.

Tulsa converted 11-of-17 free throws in the first 20 minutes, while shooting 56.5-percent from the field on 13-of-23. Joiner led the Hurricane in first-half scoring with eight points, followed by Horne's seven points.

Tulsa will return to action at the Reynolds Center on Saturday, Nov. 10 against South Carolina State (1-0). Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.

#ForOurCity