Senior Korita Scores 20 as Tulsa Wins 20th Game with 65-54 Victory over UCF

Saturday, February 29

Reynolds Center

5 PM

Tulsa

20-9,12-4AAC

UCF

14-14,5-11AAC

UCF

Tulsa

Senior Korita Scores 20 as Tulsa Wins 20th Game with 65-54 Victory over UCF

2/29/2020 9:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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BOX SCORE I PHOTO GALLERY I PRESS CONFERENCE I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Lawson Korita scored a career-best 20 points on Senior Day as Tulsa closed out the home season with a 65-54 win over UCF Saturday night in front of 5,304 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

The senior knocked down 7-of-9 field goals, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range and also converted 3-of-4 free throws for his new career-high, bettering his previous career-best of 16 points.

Juniors Jeriah Horne and Brandon Rachal added 12 and 11 points, respectively. Tulsa connected on 43-percent of its field goals, 45-percent from 3-point range and out-rebounded the Knights 30-22. The Hurricane had a 14-0 edge in second-chance points and a 27-12 advantage for points scored off turnovers.

The win gave Tulsa its 20^th win of the year and clinched at least the No. 3-seed at the American Athletic Conference tournament. Tulsa (20-9, 12-4 AAC) sits atop The American by a ½ game, while the two 11-4 teams, Houston and Cincinnati, square-off tomorrow in Texas.

UCF, which fell to 14-14 overall and 5-11 in league play, were led by Brandon Mahan's 15 points.

Leading by 6 at halftime, Horne began the second-half with a 3-pointer to put the Hurricane ahead by 9 points. Tulsa built the lead to 13 points at the 11:48 mark when Horne knocked through another trey for a 47-34 lead.

Tulsa kept its lead between 9 and 13 points over the next 3:20 of the game before three UCF 3-pointers cut an 11-point lead to just 2 points, 53-51, with 3:59 remaining in the contest.

Seniors Martins Igbanu and Lawson Korita with Coach Haith — Seniors Martins Igbanu and Lawson Korita with Head Coach Frank Haith.

Korita responded with a trey of his own at the 2:28 mark to put the Hurricane back up by 5 points at 56-51. Three Mahan free throws brought the Knights to within 2 points again with 2:04 on the game clock. But, it was Korita again that pushed Tulsa's lead to 4 points, this time he hit a 2-pointer from just outside the paint.

In the final 0:46, Elijah Joiner converted 4-of-4 free throws to increase Tulsa's lead to 8 points, while a Korita fast-break layup and free throw gave Tulsa the 11-point victory.

The game began slow as only 8 total points were scored in the first 5:45 of the contest. Martins Igbanu had all 6 of Tulsa's early points for a 6-2 Hurricane lead.

The Tulsa defense was on-point in the first half. The Hurricane held UCF to zero field goals in a span of 6:44 in the first half, from its last basket a 3-pointer scored at the 12:03 mark to a 3-pointer at the 5:19 mark, and the Knights had only one free throw during that time span as well.

The Hurricane increased its lead of 11-9 to 20-10 during the Knights scoring drought.
UCF went on a streak of its own though, cutting the 10-point Hurricane lead to 3 points on a 9-2 run to make the score 22-19 with 1:15 left on the game clock.

Tulsa closed out the half with a 27-21 lead, as Korita had 8 points to lead the Hurricane. Both teams struggled from the perimeter in the first 20 minutes as Tulsa connected on just 10-of-30 from the field for 33 percent and UCF shot 35-percent on 8-of-23 from the field.

Tulsa closes out the regular season with two road games, coming first in Philadelphia, Pa., against the Temple Owls on Wednesday, March 4, and then next Sunday, March 8, across the Kansas border at Wichita State.

The American Athletic Conference Championship will take place March 12-15, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. For tickets, fans can call the TU athletic ticket office at 918.631.GoTU (4688).

QUICK HITS …
•   The win was the 20^th of the season for Tulsa, giving the Hurricane its first 20-win season since the 2015-16 campaign.
•   Tulsa finished the home season with a 15-2 record, which is the most home wins since a 16-2 record in the 2009-10 season.
•   It's the 6^th time in the 22-year history of the Reynolds Center that the Hurricane has won 15-or more home games.
•   Tulsa improved to 11-0 against UCF in home games.
•   Tulsa evened its record on Leap Year games, as the Hurricane now has a 4-4 record on Feb. 29^th in school history.
•   Senior Lawson Korita scored a career-high 20 points on Senior Day.
•   Korita has scored in double-figures in 6 of the last 7 games.
•   In 124 career games, Martins Igbanu now has 1,273 career points to rank 22^nd on the school's career scoring list, while his 617 career rebounds is in 21^st place on the all-time rebounding list.
• Temple's 22 rebounds tied a season-low for a Tulsa opponent.
• The Knights' 47.4 percent field goal percentage is only the second time in Tulsa's 20 wins that an opponent has shot over 40-percent from the field.