Tulsa Cruises Past Florida Atlantic

Rashad Smith scored 20 points and James Woodard tallied 19 points to lead Tulsa to a 71-52 win at Florida Atlantic Thursday evening at FAU Arena.

Smith grabbed eight rebounds and Rashad Ray tallied six assists to lead the Golden Hurricane, which improved to 14-12 overall and 9-3 C-USA in C-USA play. Justin Raffington scored 13 points and D'Andre Johnson scored 12 points to lead the Owls (10-17, 5-7 C-USA).

TU held FAU to a .313 field goal percentage, the ninth straight game in which it held an opponent below 40 percent shooting. The Hurricane held Pablo Bertone, who entered the game leading C-USA with 18.8 points per game, to eight points Thursday.

Tulsa shot 48 percent from the field (28-of-59) and outrebounded the Owls 43-32. It was the fifth game in a row the Hurricane has outrebounded its opponent. TU also tallied 12 assists, nine turnovers and 20 second chance points, and gave up zero fastbreak points while scoring 12 fastbreak points. TU also outscored FAU 44-21 in points in the paint.

Florida Atlantic cut Tulsa's 34-18 halftime lead to 13 points, 34-21, early in the second half. A layup by Smith and a 3-pointer by Woodard extended the Hurricane advantage back to 18 points, 39-21, with 19:09 left in the game.

The Golden Hurricane took a 20-point lead at 50-30 with 12:13 remaining on a fastbreak layup and free throw by Woodard. D'Andre Wright, who finished with eight points, hit a putback layup extended the lead to 54-33 with 9:08 to play.

Shaquille Harrison, who finished with five points and three steals, converted a fastbreak layup with 6:29 left to extend the lead to 63-40, and Tim Peete laid in a fastbreak bucket with 3:38 remaining to give Tulsa its largest lead of the game at 70-44. Once TU took a 20-point lead with just more than 12 minutes to play, the Owls never got closer than 17 points, a the Hurricane cruised to the 71-52 victory.

Tulsa scored the first basket on a 3-pointer by Woodard, and never trailed in the game. TU burst out to an 11-3 lead to start the game. FAU cut the lead to 11-8 with a 5-0 run, but Shaquille Harrison, who finished with five points and three steals, scored a layup plus the free throw, making the score 14-8.

Leading 18-14 after a dunk by Raffington, Smith scored a layup and Ray slammed a driving dunk, sparking a 14-0 run and a 32-14 lead with 3:26 left in the half. The Hurricane took a 34-18 advantage at the half.

The Golden Hurricane plays at FIU at 1 p.m. CT Saturday.