Tulsa Drops Heartbreaker in Final Seconds to Cincinnati 70-69

Wednesday, February 24

Reynolds Center

8:00 PM

Tulsa

10-10,7-8AAC

Cincinnati

8-8,6-5AAC

Cincinnati

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Drops Heartbreaker in Final Seconds to Cincinnati 70-69

2/24/2021 11:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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TULSA, Okla. –– Elijah Joiner scored a new career-high with 24 points, but Cincinnati was able to hold on for a 70-69 win over Tulsa Wednesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa fought back from a 9-point second-half deficit but a Cincinnati layup by Jeremiah Davenport after a Tulsa turnover put the Bearcats ahead 70-69 at the 0:12 mark. The Hurricane had two contested layup chances in the final 0:05 that failed to go thru the net.

Tulsa fell to 10-10 overall and 7-8 in the American Athletic Conference. It was the first Senior Day loss for the Hurricane since falling to this same Cincinnati team in the home finale of the 2014-15 season.

Brandon Rachal recorded his 6th double-double of the year and 10th for his career with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He also had a double-double in the earlier meeting against the Bearcats with season-highs of 25 points and 13 rebounds. Austin Richie added 10 points.

Keith Williams scored 24 points to lead the Bearcats, who evened its season record to 8-8 overall and improved in the league to 6-5.

"That's a tough one," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith. "We had some costly turnovers, obviously that one at the end. It was unfortunate today. Both teams fought hard. We had some really, really costly turnovers that did us in at the end. Give Cincinnati credit they made the plays when they needed to, and we didn't finish plays."

Trailing by 9 points, 63-54, the Hurricane cut the deficit to one point on a 10-2 run to make the score 65-64 after a breakaway dunk from Rachal with 3:55 left on the game clock.

Tulsa locked down on the defensive end during that stretch.

"We played good defense and got some clean rebounds. They hurt us on the glass tonight. We started dribbling the ball and quit settling and that allowed us to catch up. We were doing a good job executing in that stretch," said Haith.

In the first six minutes of the second half, the Bearcats extended its 3-point halftime lead to 7 points at 49-42. Tulsa cut its deficit to three before Cincinnati went ahead by 9 points at 59-50 at the 9:39 mark.

The Bearcats made it a 9-point lead again with 8:15 left before the Hurricane went on its 10-2 run to cut the deficit to one point. The Hurricane tied the game at 67 on a Joiner 3-pointer at the 2:01 mark and went ahead 69-67 on two Brandon Rachal free throws. Cincinnati scored the final three points on a free throw and the final layup.

After Cincinnati took a 3-0 lead to start the game, Tulsa scored the next 15 points as six Hurricane players scored within the first 8 minutes of the contest for a 15-3 lead at the 12:43 mark.

Trailing 15-3, the Bearcats scored the next 7 points to cut the Hurricane lead to 5 points at 15-10. Cincinnati took its first lead since that early 3-0 start when David Dejulias gave the Bearcats a 24-22 lead at 6:37 of the first half.

The Bearcats ended the first half ahead 37-34, outscoring the Hurricane 34-19 over the final 12:29 of the first 20 minutes.

The Hurricane shot 43 percent from the field, while Cincinnati was 38 percent from the field, but 50 percent from behind the arc. Joiner led Tulsa with 10 first-half points. The Bearcats were led by 15 from Williams.

Tulsa travels to central Florida next Tuesday, March 2, to take on the UCF Knights in Orlando.