Second-Half Surge by Missouri Sinks Men's Basketball 67-62

Sunday, November 20

Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

11 a.m. CT

Tulane University

1-4

Missouri

2-2

Missouri

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Second-Half Surge by Missouri Sinks Men's Basketball 67-62

Nov 20, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Reynolds scores a team-high 18 points in the loss

Printable Stats

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Tulane men's basketball squandered a 12-point, first-half lead and was unable to overcome Missouri's second-half surge Sunday in a heartbreaking 67-62 loss at the HP Field House inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

The Green Wave (1-4) finished eighth in the 2016 Tire Pros Invitational. Sunday's game featured Tulane's largest lead (12 points) as well as its first halftime lead (10 points) during the three-game tournament.

Redshirt junior guard Cameron Reynolds was Tulane's spark plug in the first half with a team-high 12 points before finishing with a team-best 18 points.

"It was a tale of two halves for us," said head coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr. "In the first half, we came out and did a nice job defensively, were very aggressive, we stopped dribble penetration and didn't let them get to the rim on us and conversely we had a nice little lead there.

"In the second half, (Missouri) took the game to us a little bit and got some low-post scores and were aggressive off the dribble and got to the free throw line a bunch. They scored 40 points in the paint and it's hard to survive that number."

In addition to Reynolds, senior guard Malik Morgan and sophomore guard Kain Harris each chipped in 10 points.

After shooting 41 percent (11-of-27) from the floor and 55 percent (6-of-11) from 3-point range in the first half, Tulane was limited to 28 percent shooting (10-of-36) in the second half.

The Wave raced to a 15-7 lead to open the game behind Reynolds' nine points. A triple in transition by sophomore guard Melvin Frazier with 38 seconds left until half gave Tulane its largest lead of the game at 32-20. Frazier's triple was desperately needed as it snapped a four-minute drought with no field goals for the Green Wave. Tulane led 32-22 at the break.

Missouri began to slowly chip away at Tulane's 10-point halftime lead in the first six minutes of the second half. Missouri's Kevin Puryear scored nine of the Tigers' first 11 points to open the second half as Tulane's lead dwindled to 36-33 with 15:44 remaining. After that run, freshman Colin Slater quieted the Mizzou contingent with a 3-pointer from the left wing that gave the Green Wave a 39-33 lead.

Another costly scoring drought by Tulane led to Missouri tying the game at 43 with 11:50 remaining. It was part of Missouri's 15-3 run to take a 51-46 lead before the under-8 media timeout.

Tulane would eventually regain a one-point lead, 56-55, with 5:30 left in regulation, but Missouri closed the game on 12-6 run to preserve the victory.

Next up, the Olive and Blue remain on the road with a pair of contests at Georgia Tech (Nov. 26 at 6:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra) and at in-town rival New Orleans (Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. on Cox Sports) before returning to Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Dec. 2 to take on St. John's. Tipoff for that game is set for at 7 p.m. on ESPNews.

Season and single-game tickets can be purchased by clicking here to purchase, calling 504-861-WAVE (9283) or visiting the Tulane Ticket Office, located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Follow Tulane men's basketball on social media at @GreenWaveMBB on Twitter, GreenWaveMBB on Facebook and GreenWaveMBB on Instagram.

Green Wave Notes:
• Tulane has outrebounded its opponents in two of five games so far this season (vs. Southeastern Louisiana and vs. Arizona State).
• Redshirt junior G Cameron Reynolds is the only Green Wave player to score in double figures in all five games. He is averaging 17.6 points per game.
• Sophomore F Sammis Reyes scored his first collegiate point on a made free throw at 4:26 in the first half.