Tulane University
Se Missouri St
Red-Hot Shooting Lifts Tulane Men To Victory
Dec 1, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Brandon Brown scored a season-best 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting to lead Tulane University to an 81-60 victory over Southeast Missouri in the University Hoops Classic on Sunday afternoon at Fogelman Arena.
Brown also added nine rebounds and a career-high six assists in the victory. Brandon Spann also keyed the Wave victory with 14 points and a season-high nine assists, while Ivan Pjevcevic tallied career-bests of 15 points and six rebounds.
"Brandon Brown got us going," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said. "He slowed down in the post and made his layups. As he got hot, we really caught fire from that."
Tulane (3-2) wasted little time getting started against Southeast (2-3). The Green Wave connected on eight of its first nine shots jumping to a 17-7 lead just 6:13 into the game. Tulane cooled off a bit, but still hit 72 percent (18-of-25) of its shots in the opening stanza, cruising to a 39-24 advantage. Brown had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists in the first half alone.
"We shot the ball well," Finney said. "The key to that was sharing the basketball. We haven't done a great job of that but today we came back and were more fluid and it worked."
The Wave had a season-high 24 assists on 34 baskets in the victory.
After shooting 35.7 percent (10-of-28) in the first half, the Indians heated up as well, knocking down 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the second half. However, the Wave continued its blazing shooting, burying 16-of-28 shots in the second half.
A layup by Southeast's Brandon Griffin (15 points, eight rebounds) cut the Wave advantage to 10 at 43-33 with 17:19 to go in the game. However, Spann connected on a jumper, then found Brown for a layup, and Pjevcevic had a putback to pull the Tulane advantage back to 16 at 49-33.
The Indians clawed to within 15, but the Wave went to work with Pjevcevic from long-range. The junior from Yugoslavia connected on three consecutive three-pointers to make it 63-39 with 10:31 to go.
"One thing we wanted to do was run more entries into the post," Finney added. "Tonight we were able to get Brandon Brown the basketball where he could score it. In the second half they made a quick run. They were hitting their shots and I thought their press might hurt us."
Southeast cut its deficit to under 20 just once more in the game as the Wave cruised to its second victory of the tournament, earning third-place in the event.
Tulane returns to action on Thursday evening with its annual crosstown meeting with the University of New Orleans. Game time is 7 p.m. at UNO's Lakefront Arena.
