TU Men Come Up Short At Tulane

James Woodard scored 21 points to lead Tulsa, but the Golden Hurricane came up short at Conference USA rival Tulane, falling 75-72 on Saturday afternoon at Devlin Fieldhouse.

Woodard made 9-of-14 field goals and added seven rebounds and four assists to lead four players in double figures for the Golden Hurricane (11-8, 3-2 C-USA). Pat Swilling, Jr. scored 13 points with three 3-pointers, and Shaquille Harrison and Scottie Haralson tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively. Harrison picked up four of TU's seven steals in the ballgame.

Ricky Tarrant scored 21 points and Josh Davis had 19 points to lead the Green Wave (13-5, 1-2 C-USA). Tulsa shot 47 percent from the field, while Tulane shot 43 percent and made 10 three-pointers. The Hurricane held a 37-29 rebounding advantage, and outscored the Wave, 34-22 in the paint.

Trailing, 36-30 at the half, Tulsa scored the first six points of the second half to tie the game at 36-36, and took its first lead with a pair of Shaquille Harrison free throws at the 14:36 mark. The Golden Hurricane led by as much as six points at 47-41, and led until Tulane retook the lead at 55-54 with 8:15 remaining.

The score was tied, 61-61, when Tulane went on a 6-0 spurt to take a 67-61 lead with 3:43 left in the game. Tulsa cut the deficit to 71-70 on a three-pointer from the corner by Swilling. The Green Wave made a pair of free throws, followed by two free throws from Swilling to make the score, 73-72, with 0:19 remaining. The home team added two more free throws to make the score 75-72, and the final shot attempts by the Hurricane were closely defended and fell off the mark.

Tulane jumped out to a 9-2 lead, before Tulsa cut it to 9-7. The Green Wave, then extended its led again to 15-7, and the Hurricane only pulled as close as four points at 18-14, before Tulane used an 11-2 run to bring its lead to 29-16 with 4:41 left in the half.

The Hurricane did not allow Tulane to get away any further, and cut the deficit to six points at 32-26 with a 10-3 run, and trailed, 36-30 at halftime.

The Golden Hurricane returns to action Wednesday when it travels to take on Houston at 7 p.m.