Tulsa Overcomes Halftime Deficit but Falls Short in Myrtle Beach Invitational Semifinal

Friday, November 18

Conway, S.C.

6:00 PM

Tulsa

2-2,0-0AAC

Charlotte

-40,00 CUSA

Charlotte

Tulsa

Tulsa Overcomes Halftime Deficit but Falls Short in Myrtle Beach Invitational Semifinal

11/18/2022 10:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Gamebook (PDF) | Season Stats

CONWAY, S.C. –– The Golden Hurricane battled back after trailing by as many as 16 in the opening half but ultimately fell short in a thrilling 68-65 semifinal at the Myrtle Beach Invitational in the HTC Center on Friday evening.

Tulsa trailed by three with four seconds left and had an inbounds opportunity in front of the home bench. The Hurricane found Sam Griffin who had a good look, but a nice defensive effort from Igor Milicic, Jr. altered the shot and time expired, allowing Charlotte to escape with the win.

Griffin was electric for the second night in a row, scoring 21 points, 19 of which came in the second half. Anthony Pritchard and Tim Dalger both added 13 points. Pritchard and Dalger both knocked down three 3-pointers, and Pritchard's five rebounds was matched by Bryant Selebangue to lead the team.

Aly Khalifa and Lu'Cye Patterson led the Niners with 14 points apiece. Khalifa, a smooth passing big man, also led the team with six assists and eight rebounds.

Charlotte shot 50.8 percent from the field while Tulsa shot 43.6. The Hurricane knocked down 12 treys to Charlotte's two, but the Niners advantage was in the paint, where they dominated to the tune of 48-14.

The opening half moved quickly as there were no stoppages or fouls until a Tulsa timeout at the 10:10 mark with Charlotte leading 23-12. The niners knocked down 11 of its first 18 shots (61.1 percent), and while Tulsa also shot 5-11 (45.5 percent) in the same time frame, the Hurricane turned it over five times to Charlotte's one.

Charlotte pushed its lead to 14, 28-14, at the 8:36 mark. The teams would trade buckets over the next few five minutes, with the Niners holding a 34-21 advantage at the under four timeout.

A pair of free throws extended Charlotte's lead to 15 and eventually the Niners took a 16-point lead, 40-24 at the 1:35 mark, but Pritchard responded with his second triple of the half to send Tulsa to the locker room trailing 40-27. It was Tulsa's first time to trail this season.

Pritchard kickstarted the comeback with a 3-pointer to open the second half. After a Charlotte basket, Griffin made the first of his five threes. He followed another Niners basket with a pair of free throws and hit back-to-back threes and suddenly Tulsa was down 44-41 with 14:56 to play.

Charlotte fought off the Tulsa charge a couple of times, pushing the lead back out to five, 51-46, after the under 12 media timeout. Another Griffin three began a 9-0 Tulsa run that gave the Hurricane its first lead since early in the opening half. Back-to-back baskets from Brandon Betson, part of his nine points, gave Tulsa a 55-51 lead with 8:38 to play.

Dalger knocked down his second three to keep Tulsa's lead at four at the 6:32 mark, but Charlotte responded with a 12-2 run that culminated in a 66-60 advantage with 1:23 to play.

The Hurricane was not finished as Dalger got a second-chance layup to bring the score to 66-62, and then a pull-up triple from Dalger made the score 68-65, setting up the final shot.

The Hurricane will finish the Myrtle Beach Invitational with the third-place game against Murray State on Sunday morning. Tipoff is set for 9:30 a.m. (CT) and will air on ESPNU.