Tulsa Cruises to 107-74 Win in Regular Season Finale

Thursday, March 4

Donald W. Reynolds Center

12:00 PM

Tulsa

11-11,7-9AAC

107

Northeastern State

5-18,5-17Mid-America Intercollegiate

Northeastern St.

Tulsa

107

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Cruises to 107-74 Win in Regular Season Finale

3/4/2021 2:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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GAME STATS I PHOTO GALLERY I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Six Tulsa players scored in double-figures as the Golden Hurricane closed out the regular season with a 107-74 victory over Northeastern State Thursday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Brandon Rachal led the way with 18 points, followed by Austin Richie with 15, Keyshawn Embery-Simpson with 14, Darien Jackson and Manny Ugboh with 11 apiece and Rey Idowu with 10 points. NSU's Troy Locke led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-10 from the field and 5-of-5 from 3-point range.

In addition to a season-high 107 points, the Hurricane also connected on season-bests of 65.6 percent from the field and 48.3 percent from behind the arc. Tulsa also had season-highs of 26 assists and 14 three-pointers made, while outscoring NSU 52-14 in the paint and had a 50-9 edge in bench scoring.

"It was good to see us come off a tough loss just two days ago and guys came out and competed, particularly on the offensive end. I think we're playing better. We're sharing the ball and doing some things on offense much better here in the last half of the season," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.

Tulsa evened its season record to 11-11 heading into the American Athletic Conference Championship next week. Tulsa's original season finale scheduled for this Sunday at SMU was canceled due to a suspension of activities at SMU.

NSU cut Tulsa's 19-point halftime lead to 14 points at 55-41 just two minutes into the second half. NSU kept the deficit under 20 points in the first 8 minutes, but the Hurricane broke the 20-point barrier in the second half in midst of a 17-2 run that put the Hurricane ahead 82-51 with 9:08 remaining in the contest.

The Hurricane had its biggest lead of 36 points after a Peyton Urbancic trey made the score 95-59 and again at the 4:10 mark when Ugboh's slam dunk gave Tulsa's its 100^th point.

Tulsa jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the RiverHawks took its only lead of the contest on two three-pointers to go ahead 6-4. The Hurricane scored the next 14 points to take an 18-6 lead on a Ugboh put-back at the 14:21 mark.

The Hurricane went ahead by 27 points at 46-19 with just under 6 minutes remaining on the game clock. NSU went on a 15-2 run to cut its deficit to 14 points, as the RiverHawks converted 4-of-4 treys during that stretch to make the score 48-34.

Tulsa closed out the half on a 5-0 run to take a 53-34 lead into intermission.

In the first 20 minutes, Tulsa shot 68 percent from the field and 53 percent from 3-point range in building its 19-point halftime lead. The RiverHawks knocked down 46 percent from the field and 44 percent from behind the arc.

NSU's Locke led all first-half scorers with 15 points, while Rachal had 9 to lead the Hurricane.

Tulsa will open American Athletic Conference Championship play next Thursday, March 11, either as the No, 6 or No. 7 seed.