Reynolds’ Career-High 31 Points Propels Men's Basketball Past Tulsa on Senior Day, 81-69

Sunday, March 5

Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse

3 p.m. CT

Tulane University

6-24, 3-15AAC

Tulsa

14-16, 8-10AAC

Tulsa

Tulane

Photo by: Steve Dalmado

Reynolds’ Career-High 31 Points Propels Men's Basketball Past Tulsa on Senior Day, 81-69

Mar 5, 2017 | Men's Basketball

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NEW ORLEANS – Cameron Reynolds scored 23 of a career-high 31 points in the first half as the Tulane men's basketball team defeated Tulsa, 81-69, in American Athletic Conference action on Senior Day in its regular-season finale Sunday afternoon at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Tulane (6-24, 3-15 AAC), which locked up the No. 10 seed on Wednesday night, will travel to Hartford, Conn., to compete in the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championship and will face No. 7 seed Tulsa (14-16, 8-10 AAC) for a third time this season on Thursday, March 9 at the XL Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. (CT) and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU with streaming available on the WatchESPN app.

Reynolds made eight field goals, including seven three-pointers, while making all eight free throw attempts. His seven treys were a personal-best and tied for the second most in a single game in program history. The Pearland, Texas native became the first Tulane player with 30 points in a game since Louis Dabney scored 32 in a triple-overtime victory at East Carolina on Feb. 10, 2016.

"I felt great," Reynolds said. "Malik (Morgan) and I get shots up every day after practice, so it was really about getting great looks. Malik found me in spots, Melvin (Frazier) found me in spots, I have to give the credit to them because they found me."

Frazier added 18 points and four steals, as Morgan scored 15 points to go with six rebounds, eight assists and a pair of steals in his final home game.

Martins Igbanu led the Golden Hurricane with a double-double comprising 19 points and 10 rebounds, Jaleel Wheeler added 15 points, Pat Birt scored 14 points and Junior Etou chipped in 13 more.

"I thought our first half was maybe the best first half we've had from a defensive standpoint," Head Coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr. said. "We had twenty-one deflections which led to eighteen points off of turnovers, so our defense really got us going and we pushed the pace of the game, and everything was falling the right way for us. We were collapsing their defense and making passes out to open shooters and they obliged by draining shots."

Tulsa jumped out to an early 12-8 lead, but that was when Reynolds found a scorching hot shooting stroke from the field, making four-straight shots including three-straight three-pointers to give the Green Wave a double-digit lead, 24-14, and forcing the visitors to call timeout with 8:24 to go.

A pair of free throws by Frazier with 7:29 to go capped off a 9-0 scoring run by the Wave and pushed the advantage to 12 points, before Reynolds knocked down his fifth triple of the half to give Tulane (5-24, 2-15 AAC) a 32-19 lead with 5:37 left.

The Golden Hurricane would cut its deficit to single digits just once in the final five minutes, but Tulane would create its largest lead of the half – 14 points – on a pair of free throws by Frazier to send the Olive and Blue into halftime in front, 43-29.

After committing four turnovers and scoring 10 points in the first nine minutes of the game, Tulane did not commit a single turnover and scored 33 points through the final 11 minutes of the period.

Reynolds finished the half shooting 6-for-10 overall, including 5-for-7 beyond the arc, and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. The Green Wave outscored Tulsa, 18-3, off turnovers in the period with 12 of those points coming from the redshirt junior.

A Frazier dunk on Tulane's first possession put his team up 16 points, but Tulsa countered with seven-straight points to draw within single digits, 46-36, with 17:26 remaining. A 10-2 Green Wave run that was finished off by a Morgan triple pushed the margin to 56-38 just over five minutes into the second half.

The Golden Hurricane put up nine-straight points over the subsequent three minutes to cut its deficit in half, but the Green Wave remained resilient and closed the door once again with an 8-0 run of its own that ended with yet another Reynolds three to keep the home team ahead, 66-49, at the 9:23 mark.

Frazier drained his only trey of the day with 6:49 left to give Tulane its first 20-point lead, 74-54, but Tulsa had one last counter – an 11-0 run – to draw within nine points once again, 74-65, with 4:21 to go. The Green Wave would not let the Golden Hurricane come any closer as a Morgan basket on the next possession moved the margin back to double digits where it would remain for the rest of the game en route to the 12-point victory.