TU Falls To Wright State In First Round Of CBI

Danny Manning’s first season as Tulsa’s head coach has officially come to an end.

The Golden Hurricane struggled from the field Wednesday night, shooting just 34.7 percent as they fell to Wright State 72-52 in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational.

Scottie Haralson scored 13 points and James Woodard added 12 to lead Tulsa, but no other Golden Hurricane reached double-figures. Haralson ends his career as the third-leading three-point shooter in school history, with 248 threes, and compiled 1,064 points in three seasons at TU.

Scoring was slow in the early going, as Wright State led Tulsa, 9-8, with 11:18 remaining in the first half. The Raiders, with the benefit of a fast break layup sandwiched between a pair of three-pointers,broke out to a 24-15 lead. The WSU lead grew to as many as 12 points, 32-20,but Woodard hit a three with 0:39 on the clock to make the halftime score,32-23.

Tulsa (17-16) made an early run after the break,outscoring Wright State, 13-4, to tie the game at 36 apiece with 16:07remaining. The Raiders got a three-point play from Joe Bramanti to re-take the lead, 39-36, and scored seven straight points to move ahead, 43-36.

Down 45-38, the Hurricane scored six straight to cut the deficit to two points, but Wright State got 17 combined points from Jerran Young and Miles Dixon, as part of a 27-9 run to end the game and pull away from TU. Young finished with 14 points and Dixon 12 points, while WSU was led by Kendall Griffin’s 15 points.