Tulsa Uses Strong Second Half for 76-56 Win Over Rockhurst

Thursday, October 31

Reynolds Center

7 PM

Tulsa

Rockhurst

Tulsa

Tulsa Uses Strong Second Half for 76-56 Win Over Rockhurst

10/31/2019 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

GAME BOOK

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa outscored Rockhurst by 23 points in the second-half to claim a Halloween night victory, 76-56, over the visitors in front of 2,810 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. With the win, Hurricane increased its all-time exhibition game record to 68-2, including its 39^th consecutive exhibition victory.

Trailing by 3 points at halftime, 30-27, the Hurricane scored 49 points in the second-half, while holding the Hawks to 26 points.

Newcomer Brandon Rachal led Tulsa with 16 points, followed by senior Martins Igbanu's 14 points and junior Darien Jackson's 12. The trio shot 73-percent on the night, converting 19-of-26 field goals. Rachal went 8-of-12, Igbanu 6-of-7 and Jackson 5-of-7 for the night.

"I thought our second-half play is the way we feel what we're going to look like this year," said Tulsa head coach Frank Haith. "In the first half we had 5 new players, and a lot of guys that haven't played much. I expected some tightness, and thought it would take some time to get back in rythym."

After an 0-for-9 first half from three-point range, Tulsa went 4-of-9 in the final 30 minutes, while also connecting on 62-percent of its field goals, dishing out 12 second-half assists and cutting its turnovers from 10-to-4 in the second half. For the game, Tulsa finished with a 54.2 field goal percentage, 17 assists and a 35-to-27 edge in rebounding.

"In the second half, our energy was really good, but our execution was much better. We had only 4 turnovers in the second half compared to 10 in the first half. That's usually an indicator of your nervousness," added Haith. "Our defense was really good in the second half. Everything was better in the second half and it had a lot to do with our execution. We were a little bit more under control, relaxed and played the that way we're capable of playing."

Tulsa came out after intermission and retook the lead 31-30 on two layups, one by Jackson and the second from Elijah Joiner. However, the Hawks kept the game close in the early part of the second half. The game was tied 4 times in the first 5:08 before Jeriah Horne's trey at the 14:40 mark gave Tulsa the lead for good at 40-37.

The Hawks kept the margin under 10 points for the next 8 minutes, but that was before a Joiner layup at the 5:18 mark put the Hurricane over double digits at 62-51. From that point, Tulsa went on a 14-3 run for its largest lead of 23 points with just 0:25 remaining in the contest.

Rockhurst hit a 3-pointer with 0:12 on the clock to make the final score a 20-point margin.

At the start of the game, Tulsa jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first 2:06, which was the largest of the first half for the Hurricane. Rockhurst went on a 6-1 run to take its first lead at 17-16 at the 7:48 mark.

Tulsa retook the lead at 20-17 on a Darien Jackson layup at the 6:18 mark. But, Rockhurst closed out the final 5:41 by outscoring Tulsa 13-7 for a 3-point halftime lead at 30-27.

Neither team could find its range from 3-point range in the first 30 minutes, going a combined 0-21 from behind the arc.

At the intermission, Igbanu's 9 points and 8 from Rachal led Tulsa, as the Hurricane shot 44-percent overall from the field.