Tulsa Falls to Arkansas State 66-63

Saturday, December 7

Reynolds Center

2:00 PM

Tulsa

7-2,0-0AAC

Arkansas State

7-2,0-0Sun Belt

Arkansas St.

Tulsa

Photo by: Brett Rojo

Tulsa Falls to Arkansas State 66-63

12/7/2019 4:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

GAME STATS I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa's second-half comeback bid fell short as Arkansas State (7-2) pulled out a 66-63 victory over the Golden Hurricane Saturday afternoon in front of 3,074 fans at Donald W. Reynolds Center. Trailing by as many as 9 points in the second half, the Hurricane got as close as one point under 4 minutes but couldn't overtake the visiting Red Wolves.

Brandon Rachal led Tulsa (7-2) with 17 points, followed by 12 from Martins Igbanu and 10 from Elijah Joiner.

The loss snapped a six-game winning streak and a 19-game home non-conference winning string for the Hurricane. The last non-league home loss came on Nov. 10, 2017 against Lamar.

"Arkansas State threw in some really tough shots at the end of the shot clock, and we did not execute like we needed to. Give them credit they played really hard," said Tulsa head coach Frank Haith. "Offensively we had some shots at the rim, but we didn't make them. It is hard on you offensively when you get point blank layups and you can't knock them down."

The two teams shot an identical percentage from the field – 51.1% – as the difference ended up being from the charity stripe where ASU knocked down 14-of-17 freebies for 82.4 percent, and Tulsa was 8-of-11 from the free throw line for 72.7 percent.

Arkansas State also had 3 double-figure scorers as Jerry Johnson led the way with 16 points, Marquis Eaton 15 and J.J. Matthews with 10 points.

After trailing by 5 at intermission, the Hurricane got as close as 2 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half at 45-43, before the Red Wolves extended its lead back to 9 points, 52-43, at the 9:22 mark.

A Jeriah Horne 3-pointer at 5:50 on the clock cut ASU's lead to 3-points to make the score 56-53. The Red Wolves made it a 5-point game on their next possession. Tulsa trimmed it back to 3 on an Joiner layup and 2 Igbanu free throws at the 3:16 mark cut Tulsa's deficit to one point at 58-57.

ASU pushed its lead back to 4 points, but Darien Jackson's reverse layup brought it back to a 2-point game at 61-59 with 1:34 left on the clock. Jackson then blocked an ASU shot with just over a minute to play, but the Hurricane could not convert on the other end. Trailing by 2, Tulsa was forced to foul with 0:16 left in the game.

The Red Wolves made 5 of its final 6 free throws in the last 0:16 to hold onto the lead and finish with the 3-point road victory.

Tulsa jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the game as Reggie Jones scored the first 5 points for the Hurricane. Tulsa took its largest lead of the first half of 9 points four times within the first 9 minutes of the contest.

ASU chipped away at Tulsa's advantage and took its first lead of the game at 21-20 with 8:29 on the first-half clock. ASU extended its 10-0 run to 15 for a 26-20 edge at the 6:50 mark.

Tulsa's 6:16 scoring drought ended when Rachal hit a baseline jumper with 5:44 left on the first-half clock. ASU had a 17-2 run over a 6:28 time frame in the first half to overtake the Hurricane.

The Red Wolves extended its first-half lead to as many as 9 points, 33-24, with 3:16 left. Tulsa cut the ASU lead to 5 points at halftime by going on a 6-2 run.

At halftime, Arkansas State held a 35-30 lead as the Red Wolves bench scored 23 of those points. The two teams each shot 50-percent or better from the field with ASU at 58 percent and Tulsa at 50 percent.

Rachal and Jones shared the scoring lead for Tulsa in the first 30 minutes with 8 points apiece.

Tulsa will closeout a 3-game home stand at the Donald W. Reynolds Center next Wednesday, Dec. 11, against the Boise State Broncos. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.