Maduka Leads Tulsa Past Mercer 68-62

The Tulsa men's team improved to 6-7 on the season after a big night by Kodi Maduka to lead them to a 68-62 win over Mercer Wednesday night.

Four Golden Hurricane players scored in double figures including Maduka who set a new career-high with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds. Eric McClellan added 14 points off the bench for the Golden Hurricane and Jordan Clarkson had 12.

"We found a way," Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik said. "Our offense was a little stagnant. We didn't get a bucket in the last seven minutes of the first half, but we still went into the locker room with a 34-27 lead, so our defense was good. We made some adjustments. We really did a great job on the glass. It was a really good win for us. A lot of guys contributed to the win."

The two teams went back and forth early in the first half, playing to a 15-15 tie at the 13:09 mark. Mercer scored five of the next seven points to take a 20-17 lead with 11:26 left in the half.

Following the three-pointer by Langston Hall that put the Bears up three, McClellan drove for a layup and Maduka made a pair of free throws out of a timeout to give the Hurricane the lead. The plays sparked a 12-0 run over the next three minutes as TU took a 29-20 lead with 8:34 remaining in the first half.

Neither team scored in the final four minutes of the first half and Tulsa led 34-27 at the break.

Tulsa led 37-27 after a Scottie Haralson 3-pointer just after halftime, but Mercer slowly climbed back into the game, finally taking a 50-49 lead on a Travis Smith jumper with 6:46 remaining.

After a Gollon 3-pointer put the Bears ahead 53-51, Tulsa went on an 11-1 run over the next five minutes and Haralson gave Tulsa the lead for good after he hit a three-pointer off of a blocked shot that made the score 54-53 with 4:54 left in the game. McClellan connected on an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Golden Hurricane a four-point lead. Maduka made a pair of free throws to make the score 60-54 with 3:04 left.

Tulsa and Mercer both shot 45 percent from the floor, but the Hurricane shot 63 percent in the second half (10-of-16) and made 20 of its 34 free throws. Tulsa also dominated the boards, outrebounding Mercer 41-28, including 15 offensive rebounds, and outscored the Bears 34-20 in the paint. The Golden Hurricane outscored Mercer 34-20 in the paint and outrebounded the Bears 41-28.

Jakob Gollon led the Bears (8-6) with 12 points. Daniel Coursey had 10 points, five rebounds and six blocked shots.

Tulsa now travels to Fort Worth to play Dec. 31 against TCU at 6 p.m. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network.