Tulane University
8-16, 1-10
UCF
11-9, 5-4
MBB: Tulane comes up short against UCF, 70-62
Feb 4, 2016 | Men's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane men's basketball kept things close, but was unable to overcome the UCF Knights, falling 70-62 at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse Thursday night. The Green Wave battled back nearly all night and kept it within two possessions for the majority of the second half, but they couldn't break the barrier to get out in front. It was again senior Louis Dabney who led the way for Tulane on offense, this time with 18 points. A career-best 33 points for UCF's Daiquan Walker allowed him to pace the Knights.
Tulane (8-16, 1-10 American) started off slow, but after four straight baskets from four different players it was able to tie things up at nine at the first media timeout. A three from freshman Von Julien less than a minute later gave the Green Wave their first lead of the night at 12-11. After four lead changes, UCF (10-9, 5-4 American) began to steadily pull away, capitalizing on empty Tulane possessions.
The Knights made it 33-19 with 5:30 left in the first half, forcing Tulane to call a timeout as they hit four of their last five attempts. Dabney responded to the regrouping and tried to get this going for the Green Wave when he hit back-to-back shots to get the difference back to 10.
Sophomore Dylan Osetkowski completed a three-point play moments later to make it a 7-0 run for Tulane and a 33-26 game. The Green Wave would score just once more in the first half following the run and trail by 10 at the break, 38-28. Dabney finished the opening period with eight points.
A three from redshirt junior Malik Morgan got things going for Tulane in the second half and three-point play by Osetkowski after being fouled on a dunk made it a six-point game, 40-34. The two teams would continue to trade buckets, teetering on a two-possession difference until the midway point in the second half.
Tulane put together its second 7-0 run of the game around the midway point in the half to get back within two points. A dunk from freshman Blake Paul, followed by a point of free throws from redshirt sophomore Cameron Reynolds made it 50-48 in UCF's favor.
With under four minutes to play the Green Wave committed turnovers on back-to-back possessions and UCF made the most of it, scoring five points on the mishaps. Tulane continued to push and got within two again after a pair of free throws from Dabney, but the Knights had an answer for every time Tulane scored.
Tulane finished the game out-rebounds the Knights 37-34, and shot 40-percent in the game. Julien and Osetkowski added eight points each for the Green Wave, Paul led the way with a season-high eight rebounds.
Tulane returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 10, traveling to East Carolina for a 5:15 p.m. game.
