Tulane University
East Carolina
![Andrew Garcia buried six free throws in the final 33 seconds to lift the Green Wave to victory on Saturday. [File photo by Ned Dishman]](https://images.sidearmdev.com/resize?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net%2Fsidearm.nextgen.sites%2Ftulanegreenwave.com%2Fimages%2F2006%2F1%2F21%2F407310.jpeg&height=300&type=webp)
Tulane Picks Up First League Win Over East Carolina
Jan 21, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2006
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Quincy Davis scored a game-high 20 points while Andrew Garcia hit six free throws in the final 33 seconds to lift Tulane University to a 60-52 victory over East Carolina in Conference USA men's basketball action on Saturday evening at Fogelman Arena. It was the first league win of the year for the Green Wave.
Tulane (5-11, 1-3 C-USA) held a 53-47 lead with 39 seconds to go when East Carolina (6-11, 0-4 C-USA) had a pair of free throws to pull within four. Tulane's Matt Wheaton hit the first of two free throws, but missed his second. However, the Green Wave recovered the loose ball rebound and Garcia knocked down a pair of free throws for a 56-49 advantage with 33.1 seconds on the clock.
East Carolina followed by missing a three-pointer and the 6-1 Garcia snagged his seventh board of the contest and was fouled again, burying two more foul shots with 23.3 clicks remaining. ECU nailed a three-pointer to make it 58-52, but Tulane again found Garcia, who iced the victory with two more swishes from the line.
"We needed this win for our confidence," Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson said. "With our record, we need to get wins like this at home. The two things we did which were very important for us tonight was we cut our turnovers and we made our free throws when it counted."
Davis posted his fourth 20-point game of the year while hitting 10-of-14 shots and snaring eight rebounds. Junior Chris Moore added 15 points while Garcia's only points were the six from the line. Sophomore David Gomez added eight points and nine rebounds.
"I challenged Quincy to be one of the best players in the conference every game," Dickerson said. "As long as we get the ball to him, he is going to score."
Tulane shot 51.1 percent (23-of-45) from the field, while holding ECU to just 29.4 percent (15-of-51) shooting. The Green Wave held a 36-31 advantage on the glass. The Wave turned the ball over 15 times, while the Pirates had 10 miscues. East Carolina had an 18-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
"We held them to 29 percent from the field tonight," Dickerson said. "That is a great job by our defense. We dug in on the defensive end of the floor; we got some big stops and some big rebounds."
The Wave held a 42-40 edge with 6:54 to go, but Wheaton hit a pair of free throws and spun and banked home a shot for a six-point Wave edge. Two ECU free throws were offset by Moore, who nailed his third three-pointer of the evening to make it 49-42 with 5:20 remaining. The Pirates would get no close than four the rest of the way.
In the first half, Tulane trailed by four at 18-14, however, the Wave closed out the half with a 14-6 run to hold a 28-24 advantage at the break. Davis scored 12 points with six boards in the half.
"It's good to win a close game. Right now this is a huge step, but we need to carry it over to next week and put two good games together."
The Green Wave returns to action on Wednesday evening, hosting Houston at Fogelman Arena at 7 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 504-247-1240 or 247-1241, online at TulaneGreenWave.com, or by visiting the Tulane Box Office, now located at Fogelman Arena.
