Wright paces TU in overtime win

Freshman D’Andre Wright scored 21 points Saturday as Tulsa topped Houston 101-92 in triple overtime.

TU improved to 14-11 and 6-5 in Conference USA while Houston fell to 15-9 and 4-7.

“This was a very interesting game,” said TU coach Danny Manning. “In regulation, we had a chance to seal the game, but we weren’t sound enough or disciplined enough to take care of the ball. They throw up a Hail Mary and it goes in, and we have an interesting next 45 minutes or so. We have to be a little bit more disciplined down the stretch during regulation in the game.

“While saying that, we showed that we were ready to grind and fight through it, and our players continued to fight and got through it. This was a tough game for both our teams. I’m sure that they are feeling like they had enough opportunities to take advantage of it, but we’re fortunate to come away with the victory.”

Wright was one of five Hurricane players in double-figures as he reached his 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Wright scored 19 of his 21 points in the final 35 minutes of the game.

“D’Andre has gotten better,” Manning said. “He is more comfortable on the court and making more reads. We spend a lot of time on technique and detail in practice. A lot of that is coming into play for him, reading and understanding what the defense is trying to do.”

“We knew when we came into the game that Houston would be a tough team to beat,” Wright said. “Once we got to overtime we knew that all of the offseason training that we’ve been doing would come into effect. We knew that their team was getting tired so we just tried to put it on them and in the third overtime we finally pulled a win out.”

TU freshman James Woodard recorded his fourth career double-double with 16 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. Pat Swilling, Jr., and freshman Rashad Ray each added 14 points, while senior Scottie Haralson had 10 points.

The triple-overtime game was TU’s first game that has gone into extra time this season.

The Hurricane shot 45.5 percent from the field, while holding Houston to a 36.6 clip. Tulsa recorded 56 points off of its bench compared to Houston’s 22. Houston was led by TaShawn Thomas, who tallied 31 points, and Joseph Young, who added 25.

Tulsa shot 43.5 percent from the field while holding Houston to 30.4 clip from the floor. Houston scored almost half of its points from the charity stripe as the Cougars were 13-of-17 from the free throw line. Tulsa shot 50 free throws in the game.

“They had to foul because we were up in the game,” Manning said. “They had to foul. We only shot four in the first half.”

Tulsa hosted East Carolina on Wednesday and will be at Central Florida for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday.