Tulsa Tops Missouri State On The Road

Senior guard James Woodard led Tulsa with 20 points as the Golden Hurricane withstood a second-half run and topped Missouri State, 70-61, on the road Sunday afternoon at JQH Arena.

The Golden Hurricane improved its record to 7-3 overall and 2-0 on the road, while the Bears fell to 3-6 on the season. TU led by as many as 18 points in the second half, and held on as Missouri State cut the lead to three points with just more than four minutes remaining. Tulsa pulled away with an 8-2 run to end the game.

Senior forward Rashad Smith scored 12 points and senior guard Shaquille Harrison scored 11 points, while junior guard Pat Birt and senior forward Brandon Swannegan each added eight points for the Hurricane. Harrison tallied six assists and two steals, and senior guard Rashad Ray added four assists. Guard Chris Kendrix scored 17 points to lead Missouri State.

“It was a great win. We led from start to finish, and anytime you can do that on the road, it is a great win,” Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith said. “We played a (Missouri Valley Conference) team that I think is playing their best basketball, coming off two great wins, on the road at Oklahoma State and winning against IUPUI here the other night. We had to play well to get the ‘W’ here today. I thought our guys competed from start to finish. Obviously James came out making shots, and it was good to see our bigs score early. Brandon had two nice jump hooks, Dre (Wright) had a couple of buckets early. That helps us when we get production out of our post players. I thought Smitty (Smith) had his best game thus far. It was good to see those guys have that production.”

Missouri State opened the second half with three free throws to cut Tulsa’s 10-point lead to 38-31, but the Hurricane responded with seven straight points on a layup by Smith, 3-pointer by Woodard and a jumper by Smith. The Bears cut the lead to 45-36 on a jumper by Kendrix with 15:22 to play, but Tulsa went on a 9-0 run capped by a steal and breakaway dunk by senior guard Marquel Curtis to extend the lead to 54-36 with 12:31 left.

Tulsa led by 12 points, 58-46, before the Bears scored five straight to make it 58-51 with 8:06 to play. Swannegan hit a jumper in the paint to extend the lead to 60-51, but a 6-0 MSU run cut it to 60-57 with 4:08 left. After Harrison hit a floater in the lane, a pair of free throws by Missouri State made the score 62-59. Smith made a layup, then Harrison converted a pair of free throws with 2:15 remaining to make the score 66-59. A layup by Harrison and tip-in by Swannegan in the final minute extended the lead to 70-59. The 70-61 final was reached on a jumper by Camyn Boone, who finished with six points.

The Hurricane shot 43 percent from the field (28-65), made 6-of-24 3-pointers, and converted 8-of-11 free throws. TU also tallied 15 assists and committed 12 turnovers while forcing 11 turnovers by MSU. Missouri State shot 32 percent from the field (20-63), and made 3-of-17 threes and 18-of-22 foul shots. The Bears held a 43-38 advantage in rebounds.

Tulsa led 9-8 early, and extended its 12-11 advantage to 23-11 with an 11-0 run that was bookended by a Swannegan jumper and Woodard layup. Curtis made a layup and Woodard sunk one of his four 3-pointers in the game to extend the run to 16-3, and the lead to 28-14 with 6:42 left in the first half.

A dunk by D’Andre Wright made the score 30-18 with 5:09 left in the half, and a pair of free throws by Woodard followed a Kendrix three, making the score 33-23 with 4:14 to play in the period. Missouri State cut the lead to 33-28 with 2:00 on the clock, but layups by Harrison and Woodard down the stretch extended Tulsa’s lead to 38-28 at the half.

The Golden Hurricane returns to action Saturday, Dec. 19 against Oregon State at the Far West Classic Invitational in Portland, Ore. Tipoff is set for 10 p.m. CT on the Pac-12 Network.