Tulsa Golden Hurricane Corrals Thundering Herd

Originally Published: Mar 11, 2010 7:29 PM CDT

March Madness – Conference Tournaments
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-Conference USA: Men’s Bracket | Women’s Bracket

Andrew Topps
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Tulsa took full advantage of a Marshall scoring drought to defeat the Thundering Herd 80-64 Wednesday in the Conference USA men’s basketball quarterfinals. The Golden Hurricane will play the winner of UCF-UTEP in the semifinals Friday.

Jerome Jordan had 21 points to go along with 12 rebounds for the Golden Hurricane. Ben Uzoh finished with 18, Justin Hurtt added 15 and Donte Medder chipped-in 11 off the bench.

Antonio Hayman’s layup at the 11:59 mark of the second half gave Marshall a 58-53 lead. The Thundering Herd did not score again until Tyler Wilkerson hit a 3-pointer with 5:02 remaining in the game.

In the meantime, the Golden Hurricane went on a 16-0 run to take a 69-58 advantage. Jordan scored eight points in the midst of that streak.

Wilkerson’s basket cut the Hurricane lead to nine. Marshall would slash its deficit to nine later in the half but could not get any closer.

Tulsa used a 7-0 run to take an 11-4 lead in the first half. The Thundering Herd went on a run of its own, scoring nine straight points to go up 21-17. Tulsa trailed Marshall 38-33 at halftime.

Hassan Whiteside had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Marshall.