Tulsa Hangs on for OT Win against Weber State

Golden Hurricane won 81-79 just days after dropping a double-overtime contest.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:06 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa Hangs on for OT Win against Weber State

Originally Published: Dec 17, 2010 12:27 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Golden Hurricane was involved in yet another close game on Thursday, but this time the result was much more favorable.

Tulsa beat Weber State 81-79 in overtime just four days after a double-overtime, four-point loss to Princeton on Sunday.

TU senior Justin Hurtt scored 36 points, a career high, in the victory. He shot 10-of-26 from the field and made 13-of-15 from the free-throw line. Ten of those free throws came in overtime, where he was perfect from the line.

“Justin Hurtt has been a warrior,” Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said. “He’s played a lot of minutes in his career. I’m just really proud of our guys.”

The win represented more than just closing out a close game for Tulsa (5-5). It snapped a three-game losing streak for the Golden Hurricane while also ending Weber State’s three-game winning streak.

While Hurtt easily led Tulsa in scoring, Wojcik said he had another player in mind after the big victory.

“The MVP of the game in my mind is Bryson Pope," he said. "A lot of different guys deserve a lot of credit, but Bryson Pope played a great game.”

Pope, a sophomore from Jenks, scored a season-high nine points to go with five rebounds and a career-high five assists.

The 6-6 forward was forced to fill in at the point guard spot for long stretches during the game and only turned the ball over twice.

Junior forward Steven Idlet scored 14 points and sophomore guard Scottie Haralson added 10.

Tulsa will travel to Wichita State on Dec. 21 for a 7:05 p.m. tipoff. Hurtt said the overtime win against Weber State was important going forward, especially just days after losing in double OT.

“I felt like we really gutted it out,” Hurtt said. “We all played really hard the whole game. We fought back from a deficit. I felt like everybody did a really good job tonight."