Tulane University
New Orleans
Strong First Half Leads UNO To Win Over Tulane
Dec 5, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2002
NEW ORLEANS, La. - In the annual intra-city battle between Tulane University and the University of New Orleans, it was the Privateers holding home court with an 80-67 victory at Lakefront Arena on Thursday evening.
Tulane (3-3) was led by 15 points from Brandon Spann and 14 from Brandon Brown. Waitari Marsh and Nick Sinville also hit double figures with 11 points each.
Hector Romero scored 20 points and had eight rebounds to lead UNO (5-0).
The Green Wave hit just 7-of-18 free throws, while UNO was 19-of-25. The Privateers also nailed 7-of-10 three-pointers in the victory.
"Anytime you go 7-for-18 from the free throw line and you turn the ball over 22 times, it's a sign of lack of focus," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said. "You look at the stats, they beat us on every line. We've got to play harder for longer, share the basketball and come in focused. We're not going to win games just on athleticism."
Tulane trailed by 11 at the half and undefeated UNO built the lead to 18 at 58-40 with 12:27 to go. However, the Green Wave rallied. Brown had a 12-footer off the glass and a free throw and Spann connected on a three-pointer to make it 58-46 with 11:04 to go.
The Privateers sandwiched a couple of baskets around a Spann free throw, but Brown added another hoop and a free throw while Marsh drove the lane for a strong basket and the Wave was within 10 at 62-52 with 8:55 to go.
A.J. Meredith had a pair of free throws to push it back to 12, but a quick jumper from Marcus Kinzer and one free throw from Karl Hollingsworth made it 66-58 with 5:44 to go. UNO continued to hold on, however, and a Hollingsworth putback and a Sinville baseline hook cut the deficit to seven, but that was as close as the Wave would get.
"It was a very frustrating game for us," Finney continued. "We weren't making plays when we needed to. We got it down to six, seven or eight, then couldn't get it closer."
Tulane returns to action on Saturday evening, playing against Vanderbilt in Nashville. Saturday's game time is 7 p.m. and the contest is scheduled to be broadcast live by the Tulane ISP Radio Network, including WTIX 690 AM in New Orleans.
