Scott’s Buzzer-Beater Sends Tulsa Past USF on Saturday, 78-75

Saturday, January 5

Reynolds Center

5 PM

Tulsa

11-4, 1-1

USF

11-3, 1-1

USF

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Scott’s Buzzer-Beater Sends Tulsa Past USF on Saturday, 78-75

1/5/2019 8:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score (.pdf) | Season Stats (.pdf) | Postgame Quotes (.pdf) | Postgame Press Conference

TULSA, Okla. — Curran Scott finished with 11 points, including a 3-pointer at the final buzzer to give Tulsa a 78-75 win over USF on Saturday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Scott's game-winner extended Tulsa's homecourt winning streak to 15 games as the Golden Hurricane (11-4, 1-1) improved to 9-0 at home this season. DaQuan Jeffries led the way with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Martins Igbanu and Sterling Taplin each added 15 points.

For Jeffries, it was his fourth game with at least 20 points this season. Scott added a team-high six rebounds, while Taplin hit a career-high 10 free throws in as many attempts. It was the 13th time in TU history that a player who attempted at least 10 freebies did not miss and the first time since Steven Idlet also went 10-for-10 in 2012.

The Hurricane shot 45.5-percent from the field for the game after connecting at a 50-percent clip in the second half, including a 5-of-7 effort behind the arc in the final 20 minutes.

"Obviously, heck of a ball game," head coach Frank Haith said. "Give South Florida a lot of credit for battling back. I thought for 39 minutes of the game we played really, really well. I'm proud of how we executed to win this basketball game. There's a lot of good things we can take from this game, but obviously there are some things that we have to get better at. This is a great win for us."

"When Coach (Haith) put me in, I was confident," Scott said of his last-second shot. "I was thinking to myself, 'if it comes to me, knock it down.' Lawson found me once and Tap found me right there at the end. I just tried to stay consistent throughout the game and luckily we were able to come up with the win."

Meanwhile, Laquincy Rideau paced the Bulls (11-3, 1-1), who saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end, with 19 points. David Collins added 16 points and hit a game-tying triple with 4.4 seconds remaining before Scott's heroics.

USF shot 43.3-percent and did much of its damage in the paint, where it scored 42 points. The Bulls also scored 20 points off turnovers and had 19 second-chance points.

Tulsa led by as much as 11 at 65-54 with 6:20 to play, and the advantage was 71-62 with 1:12 left after a Jeffries three-throw.

However, the Bulls went on an 8-0 run that lasted just 35 seconds and Collins' 3-pointer with 4.4 on the clock knotted the score at 75.

Taplin inbounded the ball to Igbanu, who gave it right back as the guard got a running start up the floor. Heavily guarded, Taplin's third assist of the night was his biggest as the senior found an open Scott in front of the TU bench. His shot hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded for the 78-75 win.

The Golden Hurricane built it's 11-point second-half lead with an 11-2 run to break open a close game. Jeriah Horne started the scoring with a jumper before a dunk by Jeffries and triple by Elijah Joiner. An Igbanu basket and two free throws from Jeffries capped the spurt.

In the first half, Tulsa used a 10-2 run for its first double-digit advantage of the night and took a 36-31 lead to halftime.

Tulsa will be back in action at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 10, when it hosts Cincinnati (12-3, 1-1) at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

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