Tulsa Uses Late Surge for 63-61 Win over Houston

Saturday, January 11

Reynolds Center

3 PM

Tulsa

10-6,2-1AAC

Houston

12-4,2-1AAC

Houston

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Uses Late Surge for 63-61 Win over Houston

1/11/2020 6:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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GAME STATS I PHOTO GALLERY I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa overcame a 5-point deficit in the final 98 seconds to capture a 63-61 win over the Houston Cougars Saturday afternoon in front of 3,725 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Trailing 61-56, Darien Jackson knocked down his third 3-pointer of the game at the 1:38 mark, slicing Tulsa's deficit to 2 points. Jackson followed his trey with a steal and after two Brandon Rachal free throws the game was knotted at 61 with 1:09 left on the game clock

Rachal drew another foul at the 0:34 mark and converted both free throws for Tulsa's final 2-point win margin.

With the win, Tulsa improved to 10-6 overall and 2-1 in the American Athletic Conference. Houston fell to 12-4 and lost its first conference game in 3 starts for a 2-1 AAC mark.

Jackson ended the game with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-13 from the field, 3-of-7 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Rachal added 18 points, including 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, while Horne scored 10 points. Horne and Rachal had a team-leading 6 rebounds, and Rachal and Jackson led Tulsa with 3 steals apiece.

The difference in the close game was Tulsa netting 17-of-20 free throws for 85 percent, while shooting 46-percent from the field. After shooting 50-percent in the first 30 minutes, the Cougars were held to just 29-percent in the second half to finish at 39 percent for the game.

"It was just a terrific win. I thought our guys played with tremendous toughness. I'm proud of the fight we had out there this afternoon," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.

The Cougars came out after intermission and increased its 3-point halftime lead to 8 points, 42-34, in the first 2:05. A four-point play by Jackson and another 3-pointer by Jackson, his first made 3-pointers of his career after missing 20 treys, cut the Tulsa deficit to one point at 42-41 with 16:19 remaining in the game.

The Hurricane took its first lead of the second-half on a Horne 3-pointer for a 42-41 lead at 15:30. Houston knotted the score at 44 at the 13:52 mark, the first of 4 ties over the next 5:39 until the Cougars ended the last tie, 54-54, and went on a 6-0 run for a 60-54 lead with 5:32 left in the contest.

From that juncture, Tulsa scored 9 points in the final 5 minutes and held the Cougars to just one point over that same time span to squeak out the victory.

At the start of the game, Tulsa jumped out to a 5-0 lead and was ahead 13-8 before the Cougars tied the score at 13 and took its first lead at 16-15. The Hurricane retook the lead and built it to 6 points twice, including 24-18 on two Jeriah Horne free throws and a 3-pointer by Isaiah Hill to make the score 27-21.

Houston got the lead back on a traditional 3-pointer from DeJon Jarreau to make the score 29-27 at the 4:04 mark of the first half.

In the final 4 minutes of the opening half, the game was tied twice and Tulsa took a one-point lead at 32-31 on a 3-point play by Jackson, but the Cougars closed out the final 1:50 on a 6-2 run for a 37-34 halftime lead.

Free throw shooting kept the Hurricane within 3 points at intermission as Tulsa connected on 11-of-12 from the charity stripe, while hitting 46-percent from the field. The Cougars shot 50 percent from the field and made 7-of-16 treys for 44-percent from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes.

Brandon Rachal led the Hurricane with 12 first-half points, while Mills totaled 13 points for Houston.

Tulsa goes on the road for a two-game swing against the ECU Pirates on Wednesday, Jan. 15, and Saturday, Jan. 18 against the Tulane Green Wave. The Hurricane returns to the Reynolds Center to host the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday, Jan. 22, in an 8:00 p.m. contest.

QUICK HITS …

It marked the second time this season that Tulsa won the game after trailing at halftime … Tulsa trailed today by 3 points at halftime … the other time was against Austin Peay when Tulsa trailed by 2 points.
Brandon Rachal had his 13^th double-figure scoring games, as he reached double digits in the first half with 12 points … he finished with 18 points.
Jeriah Horne 9^th double-digit scoring game of the season and the 4^th time in the last 5 games.
Darien Jackson had a career-high 19 points and had his 8^th double-figure scoring game of the year.

• With his 19 points tt was the first time in his career that Jackson has led Tulsa in scoring.

Jackson made his first 3-point basket of the year and his career … he had attempted just 6 treys before knocking down his 7^th attempt of the year … he was 0-for-20 in his career before knocking down his trey, and then made his next 3-pointer as well … he finished 3-of-7 from 3-point range.