Tulsa’s Comeback Sinks Missouri State 73-72

Saturday, December 16

2:00 PM

Tulsa

6-3,0-0AAC

Missouri State

7-4,1-1MVC

Missouri St.

Tulsa

Tulsa’s Comeback Sinks Missouri State 73-72

12/16/2023 5:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)Photo Gallery

GAME STATS I ERIC KONKOL PRESS CONFERENCE I PJ HAGGERTY PRESS CONFERENCE | PHOTO GALLERY

TULSA, Okla. –– PJ Haggerty's three-point play with 0:03 remaining finished a 10-point come-from-behind victory for Tulsa over Missouri State, 73-72, Saturday afternoon in front of 3,558 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

The freshman Haggerty finished with a game-high 24 points, including the final seven points, to lead four Tulsa players in double digits. Isaiah Barnes added 13, Jared Garcia and Cobe Williams had 11 points each.

Tulsa improved to 6-3 on the season and stayed unbeaten at home with a 6-0 record. Missouri State fell to 7-4 overall.

"What a game," said Tulsa Head Coach Eric Konkol. "That's a really good win against a really experienced team. I've said a lot in recent weeks that we're not dull. For our fans that come and watch us you're going to see some incredible plays and some not-so incredible plays, but you're going to see effort. We've got a lot of things to get better at, but I'm really proud of our team for their resolve, for sticking with it, and just finding a way, to be down, be out-rebounded the way we were, but to keep chipping along and find a way. This was a total team effort and good program win for us."

Tulsa trailed 67-57 with 5:29 remaining and was behind by eight points at the 4:04 mark. Barnes' three-pointer with 2:46 on the clock cut the Tulsa deficit to five points, 69-64, then Williams' two free throws made the score 69-66 at the 2:11 mark. Missouri State's Alston Mason's trey put the Bears back on top by six points, 72-66, with 1:43 left.

Haggerty's floater at 1:27 made it a four-point game, 72-68. After two missed Missouri State free throws, Haggerty knocked down two freebies of his own to make the score 72-70 with 0:43 remaining. On the subsequent trip down the court, the Bears missed a three-pointer and missed the front end of a one-and-one at the 0:07 mark. Williams grabbed the defensive rebound and found Haggerty who put down an acrobatic off-balance four-foot jumper in the lane while also drawing the foul.

After a Missouri State timeout, Haggerty sank the free throw to give Tulsa a 73-72 lead at the 0:03 mark. A desperation three-pointer near half court hit off the backboard preserving the one-point Hurricane victory.

Tulsa's defense stiffened in the final three minutes to put the Hurricane in a position for the comeback victory, and in that stretch outscored the Bears 12-3.

"We got stops at the end of the game. We weren't able to stop them for a while. I think they scored 20 out of 25 possessions at one time, but in the last five possessions they scored one time and then missed a free throw to give us a chance," said Konkol.

For the game, Missouri State outrebounded the Hurricane 47 to 26 and scored on 18 layups. But Tulsa had a significant edge at the charity stripe, converting 18-of-22 to Missouri State's 4-of-8.

The Hurricane ended the game shooting 48 percent from the field to MSU's 21 percent, while both teams shot just under 30 percent from three-point range.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF . . .
There was no lead bigger than five points in the first 20 minutes, as each team led by five points.

Tulsa took its first lead of the game at 8-7 on a Jared Garcia three-pointer at the 17:20 mark and kept its lead until Missouri State went ahead, 14-13, for a mere 0:21.

The game was tied for the fourth time, 19-19, at the 8:14 mark.

Tulsa took the largest first half lead of five points at 26-21 on an Isaiah Barnes dunk at the 5:16 mark.

The Bears tied the game at 31 with three minutes on the game clock, then the visitors matched Tulsa's largest first-half lead when Chance Moore hit a three-pointer to make the score 36-31.

Tulsa closed out the first half by outscoring the Bears 5-1 to cut Missouri State's lead at the intermission to one point, 37-36.

The first half ended with five ties and four lead changes.

PJ Haggerty had 11 and Jared Garcia nine points to lead Tulsa in the first half, while Missouri State's Moore led all scorers with 12 points.

IN THE SECOND HALF . . .
Tulsa took the lead, 38-37, on a Cobe Williams layup just 0:15 into the second half.

The lead remained in Tulsa's favor, other than three ties at 41, 43 and 45, until Missouri State's Moore hit a three-pointer for a 48-45 lead at the 13:29 mark

From that point, the Bears kept the second-half lead for all but the final 0:03 of the game.

Tulsa trailed 67-57 with 5:29 remaining and was behind by eight points at the 4:04 mark before the comeback began.

Both teams had paultry shooting from behind the arc in the second half as Tulsa was just 1-of-9 and Missouri State was 2-of-11.

Tulsa outscored the Bears 12-3 in the final three minutes of the game.

The lone three-pointer of the second half for the Hurricane proved to be the biggest of the game, when Isaiah Barnes gave Tulsa life at the 2:46 mark in cutting the hurricane deficit to five points, 69-65.

In the final 1:27 of the game, Haggerty scored the final seven points as the Hurricane pulled out the victory.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa moved to 6-3 on the season and 6-0 at home.
• After nine games, Tulsa has one more win than all of last year's 30-game schedule.
• Tulsa tied the series record with Missouri State at 21-21.
• Freshman PJ Haggerty had his eighth double-figure scoring game of the season to lead Tulsa in double digit scoring games.
• Haggerty's 24-point performance was his third 20+ scoring game of the season.
• Jared Garcia scored in double-digits for the third time this season.
• Garcia led Tulsa in rebounding for the sixth time this year with six boards.
• Isaiah Barnes had his sixth double-figure scoring game.
• Cobe Williams totaled 11 points for his seventh double-figure scoring game.
• Tulsa was 18-of-22 from the free throw line for its second-highest free throw percentage of the season at .818.

Tulsa plays its second of a five-game homestand on Tuesday night against Mississippi Valley State. Game time is set for 7 p.m. All Tulsa basketball games can be heard on Big Country 9.5 FM Radio.