Tulane University
USF
Tulane Defeats USF For First League Win
Feb 7, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2004
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Four players scored in double figures and the Green Wave had 34 points from its bench as Tulane University earned its first Conference USA victory with a 70-65 decision over the University of South Florida on Saturday evening at Fogelman Arena.
Tulane (8-11, 1-7 C-USA) saw USF (6-12, 0-7) pull within four at 60-56 with 1:53 to go. From that point on the Green Wave hit 8-of-10 free throws and Wayne Tinsley had a breakaway slam dunk to ice the victory.
Sophomore Vytas Tatarunas came off the bench for 14 points and six rebounds to lead the Wave. Senior Wayne Tinsley and junior Marcus Kinzer each scored 13 points while freshman Dan Fitzgerald tallied a career-best 10 points in the victory.
"We had great production from our bench tonight," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said. "We had a lot of guys contributing and we did all of the things we try to do every game: we out-rebounded them, we valued the ball and we hit our free throws."
Tulane had an impressive 40-26 advantage on the glass, including 14-8 on the offensive glass. The Wave matched its season-low with just 11 turnovers while hitting 70.0 percent (14-of-20) of its free throws. Tulane shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55) from the field while holding the Bulls to 42.6 percent (23-of-54) shooting.
USF, which was playing with just six scholarship players, relied heavily on big man Terrence Leather, who scored a game-high 24 points, including 15 in the second half. Brian Swift added 17 and Bradley Mosley had 13 for the Bulls.
USF knotted the game at 33 on a Swift three-pointer with 16:54 to go, but Kinzer nailed a floater in the lane, Tatarunas knocked down a jumper and Tinsley took a pass from freshman Kory Castine and buried a three-pointer and it was 40-33 with 14:21 to go. The Green Wave lead would slip to four at 44-40 and 46-42 but it pushed the margin to a game-high nine on a Kinzer three-pointer and a free throw from Tatarunas with 3:45 to go.
Leather hit a short jumper and Mosley knocked down a pair of free throws to pull the Bulls within four, but Tulane clinched it from the line down the stretch.
"We played a good game, but we still need to work on being a consistent basketball team," Finney said. "We are doing some good things, but we are also doing some bad things. We need to keep improving every day and our young guys need to learn how to win."
The Green Wave returns to action on Wednesday, hosting Houston at 7 p.m. at Fogelman Arena. Following that game, the Wave hosts TCU on Saturday, Feb. 14. Tickets for both games are available by calling 504-861-WAVE.
