Tulane University
14-17
(7) Temple
17-14
Men’s Basketball’s Season Ends in AAC Championship First Round
Mar 8, 2018 | Men's Basketball
ORLANDO - Seeded 10th in the Aaron's 2018 American Athletic Conference Championship, the Tulane men's basketball team made a late rally that fell just short in an 82-77 defeat to No. 7 seed Temple in the tournament's first round on Thursday night at the Amway Center.
Tulane (14-17) was led by Cameron Reynolds' game-high 22 points, while Melvin Frazier added 15 points. Samir Sehic chipped in 11 points off the bench, as Ray Ona Embo scored 10 points with five assists. Reynolds' three 3-pointers gave him 193 for his career, tying Jerald Honeycutt for the second most in program history.
Obi Enechionyia led four Temple (17-14) scores in double-figures with 19 points and made five treys, as Shizz Alston, Jr., contributed 17 points and eight assists. Josh Brown added 15 points and six rebounds, while J.P. Moorman put up 10 points off the bench.
The Green Wave owned a 37-29 rebounding advantage and outscored Temple, 22-18, in the paint and 11-10 on second chances, but were edged, 16-8, in points off turnovers and 18-15 off the bench.
Tulane made three of its first four shots and scored the first six points of the game just two minutes into the action, before opening up an early 13-4 advantage after a Frazier 3-pointer with 16:02 remaining in the first half. The Green Wave made six of their first eight attempts to build the early advantage, while the Owls made just one of their first six shots and got five of their first seven points at the free throw line.
The Wave missed five straight field goals over a span of 4:07, before a Sehic layup off an inbounds set play on the baseline with 11:55 left broke the slump to keep the Olive and Blue in front, 18-12. Despite Tulane extending the lead back to eight with, Temple closed the gap over the next seven and a half minutes, before taking its first lead of the night, 30-28, on a trey by Josh Brown with 4:14 left and forcing head coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr., to call timeout.
The Green Wave used their next possession to tie the game at 30 on a dunk by Blake Paul, but the Owls pulled in front by five, 37-32, on a trey by Enechionyia with just over two minutes left. Despite three straight points by Sehic, Alston, Jr., knocked down a baseline jumper with four seconds to go, sending his team into the halftime with a 39-35 edge.
Tulane shot 14-for-33 (.424) from the field, 2-for-10 (.200) beyond the 3-point line and 5-for-10 (.500) at the free throw line to complement a 23-17 rebounding advantage in the first half, while Temple went 12-for-31 (.387) on the floor, 5-for-12 (.417) from outside and 10-for-13 (.769) at the foul stripe.
The Owls scored the first eight points of the second half, capped by back-to-back 3's by Rose and Alston, Jr., to stretch their lead to double digits for the first time, 47-35, forcing the Wave to burn a timeout with 17:45 remaining. Temple would make five of their first eight shots of the period, including three consecutive 3-pointers to push its lead to 13 with just over four minutes elapsed.
The Green Wave had their run however, making six of eight shots from the floor and the last four in a row in that series to cut the deficit to just six, 56-50 on a jumper by Reynolds with 11:38 to go. Temple punched back however with a 7-0 run on four straight misses by the Wave to extend the margin back to 13 on a trey by Enechionyia at the 9:45 mark.
Tulane drew within eight, 63-55, after five straight points on two free throws by Frazier and a triple by Caleb Daniels with 7:51 remaining and got as close as three, 68-65, after two more free throws by Frazier at the 4:18 mark.
The Green Wave got hot as time winded down, making five of their last six shots including a triple by Reynolds with 52 seconds left that cut the deficit to three, 77-74. Temple made just one of two free throws on its next possession and Reynolds came right back with another 3 with 32 ticks left on the game clock to pull within one, 78-77.
The Owls made all four of their free throws, as Tulane missed a late 3-pointer, before time expired.
Tulane finished the night shooting 29-for-61 (.475) overall, 8-for-19 (.421) beyond the 3-point line and 11-for-17 (.647) at the free throw line, while the Owls went 24-for-54 (.444) from the field, 11-for-21 (.524) outside the arc and 23-for-29 (.793) at the foul stripe.
