Tulsa Unable to Overcome Second Half Deficit at ECU

Tuesday, January 24

Greenville, NC

6:00 PM

Tulsa

5-14,1-7AAC

East Carolina

11-10,2-6AAC

Tulsa

East Carolina

Tulsa Unable to Overcome Second Half Deficit at ECU

1/24/2023 9:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Gamebook (PDF) | Season Stats (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. –– The University of Tulsa men's basketball team fell behind midway through the second half and were unable to make a comeback in a 76-66 loss to East Carolina on Tuesday evening.

Tulsa falls to 5-14, 1-7 in The American, with the loss, while ECU improves to 11-10, 2-6 in conference play.

After trailing by five at the half, East Carolina shot 58.6 percent from the field in second to outscore Tulsa 49-34 and secure the win. Tulsa cooled off from its first half and shot 38.5 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes.

Bryant Selebangue recorded his eighth double-double of the season with an 18-point, 10 rebound performance. Tim Dalger scored 15 for the second consecutive game, knocking down a career-high four triples in the process. Pritchard added 10 points and dished out seven assists. For the Pirates, Brandon Johnson and RJ Felton did the majority of the scoring, recording 24 and 23, respectively.

For the game, ECU finished 27-of-54 (50 percent) from the floor while Tulsa knocked down 45.1 percent of its shots (23-of-51). TU hit nine triples to the Pirates' 6, but the rebounding battle went the way of the hosts, 40-23. East Carolina also pulled down 13 offensive boards, which led to a 17-4 advantage in second chance points.

The first half saw Selebangue come out of the gate aggressive, scoring Tulsa's first eight points in the opening five minutes. He also pulled down a pair of rebounds in the stretch. The Pirates kept pace with Tulsa and held a 9-8 lead after the first media timeout.

Jesaiah McWright game the Hurricane its first lead off the night on a pull-up jumper just inside the 3-point line. Pritchard put Tulsa up three, 17-14, at the 9:16 mark, but ECU responded with a three-pointer to tie.

That was the theme for the majority of a first half that saw nine lead changes and seven ties. East Carolina's biggest lead was three and happened early in the game. Tulsa eventually built its lead to five twice. The first happened when Brandon Betson hit a step-back 3-pointer to put Tulsa up 26-21 with 4:02 to play in the half, capping a 6-0 run.

Tulsa would again take a 5-point lead when it closed the half with the final five points. Selebangue gave TU the lead with a driving layup at the 1:38 mark before Pritchard found Dalger for a straightaway 3-pointer to make it 32-27 with under a minute to go. The teams would go to the locker rooms with that score.

The Hurricane shot the ball well in the first half, hitting 52 percent of its shots, including four 3-pointers. Meanwhile, its defense held ECU to 40 percent from the floor and 27.3 from deep. But Tulsa failed to take advantage of free opportunities to extend its lead, going just 2-of-7 from the foul line in the opening frame (28.6 percent).

Selebangue paced Tulsa at the half with 11 points and five rebounds. Dalger and McWright both had strong opening halves, each scoring seven points with Dalger knocking down both of his 3-point attempts.

To open the second half, Pritchard backed down a defender and got a lay-in to push the lead to seven, the largest of the night for Tulsa. But the Pirates didn't blink, never allowing the lead to get larger than that.

East Carolina took its first lead of the second half with an 11-0 run to flip the score from 43-37 Tulsa to 46-43 ECU. However, Tim Dalger responded with a triple to tie the game at the 8:45 mark.

Dalger would shortly after go to the line and knock down a pair of free throws to give Tulsa its final lead of the game. The Pirates went on another 11-0 run, this one barely taking a minute off the clock, and suddenly ECU led by nine with 6:41 to play.

Despite Tulsa never getting the lead under one possession again, the Hurricane didn't trail by double digits until there was only 1:36 to play. Trailing 69-58, Tulsa made one last push. Sam Griffin knocked down two threes for his first field goals of the game and Brandon Betson converted a driving layup to get the lead down to five. Griffin had a look to cut the lead to three after ECU split its free throws, but the shot was partially blocked and a quick outlet led to a game-sealing dunk.

Next up, The Golden Hurricane returns home to the Reynolds Center to welcome the Memphis Tigers for a nationally televised matchup on Sunday, Jan. 29. Tipoff for the game is set for 4 p.m. on ESPN2.