Tulane University
10-20, 3-14AAC
UCF
12-16, 6-11
MBB: Tulane drop final road game at UCF, 73-65
Mar 2, 2016 | Men's Basketball
ORLANDO, Fla. – After leading nearly the entire first half, the Tulane men's basketball team was unable to hold on in the second half and fell, 73-65, to the UCF Knights at CFE Arena Wednesday night. Redshirt junior Malik Morgan led the Green Wave with 17 points and five rebounds, while the Knights were led by a 20-point effort from Daiquan Walker.
Tulane (10-20, 3-14 American) did not trail until there was 1:46 left in the first half. The Green Wave went up by 12 (21-9) inside 10 minutes remaining in the half, but UCF immediately responded with a 10-1 run to get back within three. Tulane was able to answer every time the Knights got close, until three straight points from Tacko Fall gave them their first lead of the night, 31-30.
The two teams traded buckets to close out the first half, and UCF took a 33-32 lead into the locker room. Twenty-one of Tulane's 32 first-half points came off of the Knights' 12 turnovers.
The Green Wave seemed to have a spark out of the break, as Morgan sent a pass down the court to sophomore Dylan Osetkowski for the dunk to start things off in the second half. Osetkowski scored again minutes later to keep Tulane within a point, but the Knights put together a 12-3 run to get their lead to double figures.
UCF led by as many as 17 points in the second half, but the Green Wave continued to fight and got back within four with 2:36 remaining in the game. With Tulane back within nine, senior Louis Dabney found Morgan for three and 30 seconds later it was Morgan with a steal and Dabney again on the feed, this time to redshirt sophomore Cameron Reynolds for the breakaway dunk.
Walker responded for the Knights with a jumper to get the difference back to six and both teams went dry until Tulane was forced to foul with 48 seconds left.
The Green Wave finished the game scoring 29 points on UCF's 20 turnovers. Despite the Knights taking the 46-33 rebounding advantage, Tulane out-scored them in the paint 30-28. The Green Wave finished the game shooting just 37.5-percent from the field and 50.0-percent from the free throw line.
Dabney finished with 14 points for the Green Wave, while Osetkowski had 12 points and five boards, and Reynolds added 10 points off the bench.
Fall notched his second straight double-double for the Knights, putting up 17 and 13 while also blocking five shots. Adonys Henriquez added 16 points for UCF.
The Green Wave will return home for their final regular season game of the year. Tulane will host Temple on Senior Day at 1 p.m.
