Tulane University
Lamar
Green Wave Outhustles Lamar
Jan 3, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2001
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Tulane University opened the second half with an 11-0 run and never looked back as it upended Lamar University, 81-71, in men's basketball action on Wednesday evening at Fogelman Arena.
Sophomore Brandon Spann (New Orleans, La.) matched his career-high with 10 assists while also scoring 20 points for the third game in a row. It was his second double-double of the season. Senior Ledaryl Billingsley (Chicago, Ill.) also recorded a double-double, his league-leading seventh of the season, tallying 17 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Brandon Brown (Houma, La.) added 17 points, on 8-of-9 shooting, and eight rebounds.
"I can't say enough about Brandon (Spann)," head coach Shawn Finney said. "He played phenomenal tonight. If he shoots the ball a little better, he'd have 30-35 points easily."
Spann shot 7-of-23 from the field.
The Green Wave trailed by as many as 11 in the first half, but rallied late to cut the deficit to three at the break. Trailing 41-38 to open the second half, Tulane (7-5) again used its tenacious full-court press to harass four turnovers and six missed shots in the first 5:45 of the second stanza. Meanwhile, sophomores Brandon Spann (New Orleans, La.) and Brandon Brown (Houma, La.) each added four points to key the 11-0 Green Wave run, which made it 50-41 with 14:31 to go in the contest.
"It was a good win tonight," Finney continued. "Lamar came out and played extremely well the first 15 minutes. Our press did a great job and we basically wore them down. The press put us in position to win the game."
Lamar cut the Tulane advantage to four at 52-48 with 13:24 to go, but rattled off seven straight points to drag the margin back to double figures at 59-48 with 10:45 to go. The Wave advantage would grow to as many as 19 in the game as Tulane forced 12 second-half turnovers and held the Cardinals to 33.3 percent shooting in the second half. The Wave also held a 39-30 advantage on the boards.
"You could see the fatigue set in in the second half," Finney said. "They didn't have any timeouts left. The press became effective. We were being aggressive defensively, trying to make things happen. The press was definitely the difference in the basketball game."
Lamar was led by Joey Ray's 15 points.
The Green Wave opens its Conference USA slate on Sunday evening at UAB. Tulane battles the Blazers at 8:30 p.m. in a game which will be broadcast live by ESPN2.
"We have a chance to start conference play off right," Finney said. "We need to go in there and play with a lot of emotion."
