FORT WORTH, Texas –– Tulsa’s season came to an end on March 11 at the American Athletic Conference Championship as the Tulane Green Wave won a 77-70 first round victory over the Golden Hurricane at Dickies Arena.

Tulsa ends the year with an overall 11-12 record, while Tulane lost to No. 2 seed Houston, 77-52. Houston beat Memphis 76-74 in the semifinals and the Cougars beat Cincinnati 91-54 to win the American Athletic Conference Championship.

Houston is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will play No. 15 seed Cleveland State on Friday. Wichita State is the other AAC team to make the NCAA. The No. 11 seed Shockers will play Drake on Thursday.

Against Tulane, TU’s Brandon Rachal had his 11th career double-double to lead the Hurricane with 21 points and a career-best 14 rebounds.

Elijah Joiner added 16 points with a career-high 12 assists, while Keyshawn Embery-Simpson scored 12 points with 11 of those coming in the first half.

The Green Wave had two 20-point scorers with Jordan Walker scoring a game-high 24 points and Jalen Forbes adding 22.

It was a tale of two halves for the Hurricane. Tulsa shot 50 percent from the field and 56 percent from 3-point range in the first half but managed just 25 percent overall in the second 20 minutes and shot 19 percent from behind the arc.

After going 9-of-16 in the first half from 3-point range, Tulsa connected on just 3-of-16 in the second half. The Green Wave knocked down 52 percent of its field goals in the final 20 minutes after shooting 40 percent in the first half.

The Hurricane led 62-61 with just over 6 minutes remaining in the game, but from there Tulane took control by scoring the next 7 points for a 68-62 lead at the 2:53 mark. Tulsa made just 2 of its last 11 field goals, while the Green Wave made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 0:34 to hold on for the victory.