Tulane University
Mercer
MBB: Tulane falls 71-61 to Bears in Nashville
Nov 26, 2015 | Men's Basketball
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tulane men's basketball team was unable to bounce back after an unproductive first half as it fell to the Mercer Bears, 71-61, at the Municipal Auditorium as part of the Challenge in Music City. Senior Louis Dabney led Tulane with 16 points in the game, while Phillip Leonard paced the Bears with 14 points and Stephon Jelks added 10 points and 10 boards.
The Green Wave (2-3) turned things around in the second half after shooting just 23.1-percent from the field on 6-26 shooting in the first. Early on, the game saw five lead changes in the first six minutes of play as things were tied at 10 by the first media timeout. Following the pause in action neither team as able to score more than once over the next 2:56 and the lulls continued as the clock ran under eight minutes. Eventually Mercer began to pull away with a 9-2 run in a five-minute span late in the first half.
Tulane trailed 26-19 at the half as graduate student Jernard Jarreau was the only Green Wave player with more than one made field goal in the half. Tulane's bench brought down seven of the team's 13 first-half rebounds, but was unable to give the team any production on offense.
Mercer opened the second half on a 9-0 run to extend its lead, but Dabney turned it on for the Green Wave when he scored eight straight points to give his team a spark on offense. Mercer was able to answer throughout his run, but that didn't slow the Tulane attack. Freshman Kain Harris added a three and redshirt-sophomore Cameron Reynolds got a put-back before Dabney struck again from long range to get Tulane back within 11. Reynolds converted on a three-point play after the Green Wave got a stop on defense to cut the deficit to eight with 11:04 remaining.
A 10-2 run by the Green Wave with under six minutes to play made it a two-possession game as redshirt-junior Malik Morgan capped off the scoring stint with a three to make it 59-54,Mercer, with 3:27 left to play. Despite the late momentum shift, Tulane was unable to get any closer.
The Green Wave were out-rebounded 38-23 in the game, and the Bears put up 11 second-chance points on the night. In his 2015-16 debut, Reynolds put up 11 points for the Green Wave, while Morgan finished the game with nine points and five assists. Sophomore Dylan Osetkowski added 13 points and five rebounds for Tulane.
It's a quick turnaround for the Green Wave, who return to action Friday, Nov. 27 at 7:30 p.m. against Stephen F. Austin in Nashville.
