COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
TULSA GETS HOME WIN OVER UTSA
Tulsa staved off a comeback by UTSA to hold on and win 80-76, on Saturday at the Reynolds Center.
The Golden Hurricane improved to 11-15 overall and 5-8 in The American. TU completed the regular season sweep over the Roadrunners, 10-15, 4-9 The American.
Tulsa led from start to finish and opened the game with a scoring spree making nine of its first 10 shots. The Golden Hurricane led 22-10 with 13 minutes left in the first half.
By halftime, TU built a 17-point lead, but UTSA would attempt a comeback in the second half by slowing chipping away at the Tulsa lead.
Tulsa had a 10-point advantage, 70-60, with 3:17 left, but that quickly shrunk in the final minutes. Down the stretch, the Roadrunners made three 3-pointers, including back-to-back triples from Primo Spears that helped turn an 8-point Tulsa lead to a 3-point advantage, 77-74 with 16 seconds left.
The Roadrunners came within three points of TU thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute. However, Tulsa knocked down 11-of-16 from the line and made 2-of-3 field goals in the final five minutes to hold off the Roadrunners.
Tulsa was led by four players in double figures. Keaston Willis scored 19 points with four rebounds and four assists. He knocked down 11-of-13 at the foul line, a season-high for him. Isaiah Barnes added 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, a team-high eight rebounds and dished out four assists. Dwon Odom scored 16 and was perfect (8-of-8) at the free throw line. Jared Garcia scored 16, making 7-of-8 from the floor.
For the Roadrunners, three players finished in double figures, including Raekwon Horton with 20, Primo Spears scored 18 and Marcus Millender had 19 points.
Tulsa shot 53.2 percent from the field while the Roadrunners shot only 34.4 percent.
Both teams shot the ball well from the foul line. UTSA leads the conference in free throw shooting and made 24-of-31 (77.4 percent), while Tulsa finished 23-of-29 (79.3 percent) for the night.
Tulsa will play at Rice on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
OU DROPS GAME TO LSU
LSU came from behind to defeat the Oklahoma Sooners, 82-79, on Saturday night at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.
The Tigers advance to 13-12 overall and 2-10 in SEC play, while Oklahoma drops to 16-9 and 3-9 in the SEC.
Oklahoma jumped out to a 10-point lead midway through the first half, 20-10. The Tigers came back within one point, but OU took a 35-29 lead into halftime.
The Sooners put a 19-7 run together between the final minutes of the first half and the first few minutes of the second half and gained their largest lead of the game (13 points).
LSU got hot offensively, going on a streak of 10 straight made field goals. Oklahoma continued to pound it inside on the Tigers, but Cam Carter’s offensive performance down the stretch pushed the Tigers past the Sooners.
LSU closed out the final 30 seconds of the game on an 8-0 run to beat the Sooners.
The Tigers’ head coach, Matt McMahon, said he was impressed with the way his team was able to stay composed and come back to win.
“That’s the most important part,” McMahon said. “The players, they’ve been very resilient through some struggles here. Obviously disappointed in the results, but to keep fighting, to keep coming to work every day, and then to have it paid forward there in the second half with just a phenomenal performance and a gutsy performance.”
Carter led LSU with 29 points on 10 of 17 shooting, while Daimio Collins contributed 22 points and four rebounds before fouling out.
Jeremiah Fears led Oklahoma with 15 points and five rebounds, hitting two of the team’s three 3-pointers. Moore added 14 points and seven rebounds, finishing a perfect 8 for 8 at the free throw line. Duke Miles also scored in double figures, going 8 for 8 at the stripe and collecting four steals, finishing with 12 points.
OU led in the rebounding category, 43-28, and the Sooners grabbed 14 offensive boards that led to 16 second-chance points.
The Tigers made 11 3-pointers in the game, and it proved to be the difference.
The Sooners will host Mississippi State at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.
OSU LOSES AT HOME TO TEXAS TECH
No. 12 Texas Tech was led by JT Toppin who had 32 points and 12 rebounds, and the Red Raiders routed Oklahoma State 93-55 on Saturday, at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
It was Toppin’s second straight 30-plus scoring performance and 10th double-double of the season. He had a career high 41 points against Arizona State on Wednesday.
Texas Tech is now 20-5, 11-3 Big 12, and OSU dropped to 12-13, 4-10 Big 12. It was the Red Raiders fourth straight win over OSU.
The Red Raiders jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Texas Tech closed the first half with a 31-15 run and led by 19 points at halftime (43-24). Texas Tech started the second half on an 8-0 run and led 60-30 at about five minutes into the second half.
The Red Raiders finished the game with a 38-point margin of victory, which is the largest Big 12 road victory for Texas Tech in program history.
Christian Anderson added 16 points for the Red Raiders and Kevin Overton had 13.
The Red Raiders shot 48% from the field and made 16 of 37 3-point shots (43%,).
Marchelus Avery scored 13 points to lead Oklahoma State, which has lost six of its last eight. Abou Ousmane added eight points and for the Cowboys, who made 19 of 51 shots (35%).
OSU will play at Kansas on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.
ORU LOSES IN OT AT ND
In a back-and-forth battle, the Oral Roberts men’s basketball team came up short in overtime, as North Dakota pulled out a 94-88 win Thursday night in the Scheels Center.
There were 20 different lead changes in the game, so it was only fitting to have wire-to-wire action down the stretch.
ORU was on fire from three-point range in the first half as the Golden Eagles hit 9-of-15 from downtown in the opening 20 minutes. Issac McBride capped off ORU’s hot-shooting half by knocking down a wild circus shot with four seconds remaining to put the Golden Eagles up 43-39 at halftime.
The second half continued the back-and-forth exchange, as neither team had a lead of more than six points. ORU led 81-77 with a minute to play in regulation, but the Bison were able to come back and tie it after Jacksen Moni converted on a layup with three seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime.
Moni continued to dominate in OT as the big man scored nine of NDSU’s 13 overtime points. The Golden Eagles could not find an answer for the forward and fell 94-88.
Issac McBride led ORU with 34 points, he was a perfect 13-13 at the free throw line; JoJo Moore added 19 points and six rebounds; Sam Alajiki had 16 points and five rebounds.
North Dakota State was led by Moni with 32 points and eight rebounds; Jacari White added 30 points and nine rebounds.
ORU will host St. Thomas this Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at the Mabee Center.