Tulsa Golden Hurricane Storms Back Against Rice

Originally Published: Mar 10, 2010 6:39 PM CDT

Andrew Topps
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The Tulsa Golden Hurricane outscored Rice 13-2 in the final 5:40 and defeated the Owls 73-62 in the first round of the Conference USA men’s basketball tournament.

Justin Hurtt scored 12 of his 17 points for the Golden Hurricane in the second half. Jerome Jordan had 16 points, while Ben Uzoh added 15.

Tulsa opened the second half on a 10-2 run en route to outscoring Rice 47-21. The Owls managed just two points in the final 5:39 of the game.

The Golden Hurricane shot 52 percent from the floor in the second half, nearly 25 percent better than their first half effort.

The momentum swung the opposite way for the Owls. Rice connected on just 33 percent of its shots in the second half after connecting on 48 percent in the first half, including 6-of-8 from behind the arc.

In the beginning, it looked like Rice would cruise to an easy victory. The Owls scored the first eight points of the contest, but, Tulsa promptly responded with a 7-0 spurt of its own to pull to within 8-7. Rice would pull away with a 15-5 run to double up TU 24-12 and the Owls led 41-26 at halftime.

Connor Frizzelle went 4-for-4 from the 3-point line and had 12 points in the first half. He finished with 17 points.

Tulsa will play Marshall at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.