Tulsa Moves to 3-1 in The American with Road Victory at ECU

Wednesday, January 15

Greenville, N.C.

6 PM

Tulsa

11-6,3-1AAC

ECU

8-9,2-2AAC

Tulsa

East Carolina

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Moves to 3-1 in The American with Road Victory at ECU

1/15/2020 9:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score | Season Stats

GREENVILLE, N.C. –– The Hurricane outscored the Pirates 35-19 in the second half to capture Tulsa's second road win of the season, taking down East Carolina with a final of 65-49 in Williams Arena.

With 7:28 left in the game, Tulsa used a 11-0 run to extend their lead to 59-42, the Hurricane's largest lead of the contest. The Hurricane held the Pirates to one basket the final 9:33 of the game forcing ECU into 21% shooting in the second half.

Tulsa trailed by 2 early in the second half before the Hurricane ripped off 10 straight capped off by a driving layup from Brandon Rachal, who was fouled and converted on the free-throw.

Rachal scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half going 7-12 from the field and 7-8 from the charity strike. He added 7 rebounds and led the team in blocks for the 10th time this season.

With the win, Tulsa improved to 11-6 overall and 3-1 in the American Athletic Conference. East Carolina fell to 8-9 and lost its first home conference game giving them a 2-2 AAC record.

Martins Igbanu ended the game tying his career-high 10 rebounds and adding 8 points in the process. Jeriah Horne put in 14 points and 6 rebounds, leading the Tulsa starters to score 51 of the Hurricane's 65 points.

In all 11 of Tulsa's wins the Hurricane has held its opponents under 40-percent shooting. ECU went 14-48 on the night from the floor and 2-26 from the three-point line. The Hurricane out-rebounded the Pirates 39-31 and outscored ECU in the paint 36-20.

"We were on point. I thought our defense was terrific; a tremendous team effort on that end of the court. We scored just enough, and it was a really good performance by our guys," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.

At the start of the game, Tulsa jumped out to a 11-4 lead behind Jeriah Horne's 7 points. The Hurricane held the lead for 15 minutes of the first half only trailing twice, including 2-0 on two free-throws to start the game and a Pirate jumper to make the score 25-24.

East Carolina was led by Jayden Gardner who scored 19 points on 3-8 (38%) shooting and 13-14 (93%) from the free throw line.

The two teams remained tied at 30-30 for the final 1:53 of the half, after the game was tied 3 other times in the 1st half. Horne led the Hurricane with 7 first-half points, while Gardner also had 7 points for East Carolina.

Tulsa's defense kept the Hurricane in the lead during the second half forcing 7 turnovers, scoring 7 points off of the turnovers. The Hurricane put in 11 fast break points in the 2nd half compared to the Pirates 1.

"We wanted to run and play in transition converting on our opportunities," Coach Frank Haith on Tulsa's fast-break, "We had active hands, but our clean rebounds got us out in advantage breaks. We were able to make good decisions on the possessions."

Tulsa completes their 2-game road stretch on 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 …

In the first half the teams were even in free-throws (10-13) and rebounds (16-16).
Brandon Rachal had his 14th double-figure scoring games, as he finished with 21 points ... it was his 4th game of 20+ points.
Jeriah Horne 10th double-digit scoring game of the season and the 5^th time in the last 6 games.
It was Tulsa's 11th game of having a double-digit margin in paint points with 36 compared to the Pirates 20.