Tulsa’s Lead Slips Late in 73-70 Loss to Oregon State

Monday, November 7

Corvallis, Ore.

11:00 PM

Tulsa

0-1,0-0AAC

Oregon State

1-0,0-0Pac-12

Tulsa

Oregon St.

Tulsa’s Lead Slips Late in 73-70 Loss to Oregon State

11/8/2022 2:45:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF) | Season Stats (PDF)

CORVALLIS, Ore. –– The University of Tulsa men's basketball team saw its 16-point halftime lead slip away as Oregon State came from behind to beat the Golden Hurricane 73-70 in the season opener at Gill Coliseum late Monday night.

The Hurricane had a look at the end to tie it, but Sam Griffin's 3-point attempt rimmed out as time expired.

Griffin had gotten Tulsa within 72-70 with a pair of free throws with just under a minute to play. Keyshawn Embery-Simpson drew a charging call with 29.7 seconds remaining, giving the Hurricane a chance to tie or take the lead. A pull-up jumper didn't go down and Tulsa was forced to foul. Oregon State missed the first and made the second, setting up the final shot.

The finale spoiled a fantastic evening for Griffin, who finished the night with a career-high 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting (47.6 percent) as well as five 3-pointers. Joining him in double figure were two of the newcomers, Bryant Selebangue with 15 points and Brandon Betson's 13. Selebangue added a team-high nine rebounds.

Sterling Gaston-Chapman was active on the offensive glass, creating second opportunities with five of his seven rebounds. Embery-Simpson had six rebounds and added a pair of assists.

The Beavers were led by 19 points from Jordan Pope and 18 from Dexter Akanno. Glenn Taylor, Jr. recorded 16 points and Dzmitry Ryuny also finished in double figures with 11. Rodrigue Andela's nine rebounds helped Oregon State outrebound the Hurricane 35-29.

Tulsa shot 36.4 percent from the field for the game while the Beavers were an even 50 percent. Both teams knocked down 37.5 of their 3-pointers, but Tulsa held a 9-6 advantage on total threes. Oregon State won the battle of the paint 32-26, but the Hurricane's bench outscored them 18-9.

The Hurricane held a 16-point advantage, 44-28, at the half, but Oregon State opened the second half with an 14-0 run in the opening 3:45 to get within two, 44-42.

Selebangue snapped the streak with a pair of free throws to get Tulsa back up four. After another make from the Beavers, Griffin knocked down a jumper and Selebangue put back an offensive rebound to make it 50-44. Griffin would follow an OSU bucket with another three to give Tulsa a 53-46 advantage at the 13-minute mark.

Oregon State cut the lead back down to 55-51 with 8:48 to play, but Griffin made a jumper in the paint and then stripped the ball handler on the ensuing possession, taking it himself for the lay-in and forcing a time out to give Tulsa the 59-51 lead with 7:59 remaining. That would be the largest Tulsa's lead would get from there.

Oregon State would go on a 10-0 run, aided by six consecutive free throws, to take its first lead since early in the first half, 61-59, with 4:37 on the clock.

The two teams traded buckets and leads before the Beavers pushed its advantage out to 70-64 with a 6-0 run from 3:01 to 2:28. Griffin halved the lead with a 3-pointer and then split a pair of free throws at the line after an OSU basket to make it 72-68 with 1:36 remaining.

The Beaver's shot a blistering 61.9 percent in the second half while limiting Tulsa to 30.8 percent. In addition, Tulsa managed only two 3-pointers while Oregon State knocked down five.

Oregon State started the game on fire, knocking down its first six looks from the floor, including a banked-in contested three to open the game. Tulsa's defense was persistent, causing early turnovers. The Beavers turned it over 11 times in the opening half, with Tulsa recording six steals.

Eventually the shots stopped falling for Oregon State and Tulsa kept up the pressure, led by Griffin who got into double-digit scoring less than seven minutes into the game and finished the opening half with 14 points.

His first 3-pointer at the 15:46 mark kickstarted a 24-6 Hurricane run that put Tulsa up 31-17 with 7:53 left in the half. Griffin had 12 points in the nearly eight-minute stretch. Betson got a quick five and BB Knight knocked down the first trey of his collegiate career.

After Oregon State hit a pair of free throws to end the run, Betson pulled up for another three points. With 2:45 left in the half, Selebangue handed Tulsa it's largest lead at 19, 41-22, with a pair of free throws. The newcomer had six points and seven rebounds in the first half.

Six straight from the Beavers cut the lead to 13, but an old fashioned 3-point play from Pritchard sent Tulsa the locker room up 44-28. Both teams shot well from the floor with Oregon State holding a slight advantage 41.4 to 40 percent. However, Tulsa hit 16 to OSU's 12 shots, and Tulsa also knocked down seven 3-pointers (50 percent) while Oregon State were 1-of-9 (11.1 percent).

The Hurricane will host Jackson State on Saturday, Nov. 12 for the home opener at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tip-off for the first home game in the Eric Konkol era is set for 2 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN+.