Tulane University
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UTEP
Come-back Effort Falls Short Against UTEP
Jan 12, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2011
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
NEW ORLEANS - Known as a second-half team this season, the Tulane men's basketball squad gave all they had in the final 20 minutes, but the come-back effort fell short, falling to UTEP, 69-58, in a Conference USA match-up on Wednesday night in Fogelman Arena.
The Green Wave (12-4, 2-1 C-USA) trailed 40-22 at halftime and by as much as 22 early in the second half, but fought back and cut UTEP's (14-4, 2-1 C-USA) lead to just seven, 63-56, with 3:19 remaining, but could not get any closer.
"It was too much Randy Culpepper in the first half. He was electric and really made us pay," Tulane head coach Ed Conroy said. "But, I was proud of our guys and proud of the way they came back and fought. I thought we got better tonight in the second half and found some things out about ourselves and we got some things corrected in the second half."
UTEP's Culpepper led all scorers in the game with 26, including 22 in the first half with four 3-pointers. The senior guard and the rest of Miners connected on 47.1 percent from the floor in the opening half and used a 14-0 run after Tulane held a 7-4 lead to pull away and take an 18-7 lead with 13:59 remaining in the half.
Culpepper's third 3-pointer of the half game UTEP a 23-9 less than two minutes later before the Green Wave used a 7-0 run to cut the deficit back to seven, but the Miners scored 17 of the final 28 points of the half to hold the 40-22 lead at the break.
UTEP's largest lead of 22 came twice after 3-pointers by Christian Polk, the last one with 15:59 left in the game to give the Miners a 49-22 lead.
A pair of free throws by Tulane's Kevin Thomas jump started the Green Wave's come-back effort and began a 9-0 run that was capped by a 3-pointer by Johnny Mayhane with 13:00 minutes on the clock.
The lead then hovered between 14 and 10 before a jumper by Kendall Timmons and a lay-up by Jordan Callahan cut the UTEP lead to 61-53 with 4:24 remaining. The Miners' Jeremy Williams answered with a lay-up of his own to give UTEP a 10-point lead again.
A 3-pointer by Callahan ignited the crowd of 2,351 fans seconds later to cut the deficit to seven, but UTEP answered the call and outscored Tulane, 6-2, in the final 3:19 of the game to hang on for the victory.
The loss snapped Tulane's six-game winning streak, the nine-game home-court winning streak and dropped the Green Wave into a three-way tie for second-place in the conference standings.
Timmons led Tulane with 20 points, while Callahan finished with 12. Mayhane came off the bench to add eight points for the Green Wave and Kris Richard added eight.
Williams finished with 13 for the Miners, while Claude Britten had 12 and Polk added 10.
Tulane did win the battle for rebounds, 39-34, led by Richard with nine. Timmons and Aaron Holmes each added eight for the Green Wave, who shot 36.1 percent from the floor in the game.
Julyan Stone grabbed a game-high 15 boards for the Miners who shot 44.3 percent from the floor in the game. UTEP also knocked down all seven free throw attempts and hit eight of 18 from 3-point range. The celebration of the first 100 Seasons of Tulane basketball continued by honoring the All-Decade team from the 1950's at halftime on Wednesday. The All-Decade team of Dick Brennan (1952-55), Hal Cervini (1952-55), Don Holt (1951-53), Calvin Grosscup (1956-57) and Vic Klinker (1958-60) was selected by the fans vote on www.tulanegreenwave.com/100years. Fans can continue to vote for the remaining all-decade teams by visiting the site.
The Green Wave will look to rebound from the loss on Saturday when they visit Greenville, N.C., to face East Carolina at 4 p.m. CST.
GAME NOTES
- Tulane completed its five-game swing against schools from Texas tonight. The Green Wave played Lamar (Beaumont), Texas-Pan American (Edinburg), at Rice (Houston), SMU (Dallas) and UTEP (El Paso) during the stretch.
- Tulane's six-game winning streak was snapped as was the Green Wave's nine-game home court winning streak.
- Kendall Timmons recorded the 15th double figure scoring game of the season and the 30th of his career with his 20 points tonight. It also marks his 14th straight double figure scoring game. His 20 marks the sixth 20-plus point game of his career and the fifth this season.
- Jordan Callahan scored in double figures in the 14th game of the season and 18th game in his career with his 12 points tonight. It also marks his 11th straight double figure scoring game.
