Men’s Basketball Takes Down Jackson State, 88-79

Tuesday, November 12

New Orleans

7 p.m.

Tulane University

2-0,0-0AAC

Jackson State

0-3,0-0SWAC

Jackson St.

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Men’s Basketball Takes Down Jackson State, 88-79

Nov 12, 2019 | Men's Basketball

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NEW ORLEANS – Teshaun Hightower led all scorers with a career-high 21 points and Christion Thompson had a personal-best scoring night with 19 more as the Tulane men's basketball team defeated Jackson State, 88-79, at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Hightower shot 5-for-10 from the field and 10-for-11 at the free throw line to go with six rebounds and three assists, while Thompson was 7-for-12 overall to go with eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a pair of steals.

K.J. Lawson chipped in 14 points, five boards and four helpers, while Kevin Zhang scored 12 points.

The Green Wave (2-0) shot 30-for-54 (.556) overall on the night and made 22 of 30 (.733) at the free throw line.

"We are setting a new standard," head coach Ron Hunter said. "Losing is not an option for us in that regard, but you never know what is going to happen. I wasn't pleased with our defensive effort and rebounding in the first half, but I'm going to put more of that on me. I haven't been around these guys (because) I've been sick. Today was the first time in 30 years I missed a shootaround."

The first half proved to be a back and forth affair from the opening tip, featuring 17 lead changes and eight ties as both teams exchanged blows. Each side shot above 50 percent from the floor respectively for the first 15 minutes of the game, as Jackson State kept the score close thanks to four 3-pointers by Tristan Jarrett.

The Tigers made four free throws to erase a three-point lead by the Green Wave inside the final two minutes and pull ahead, 40-39.

Tulane used effective ball movement to make six of its last eight shots in the period and finished the half shooting 17-for-28 (.607) from the floor and take a 44-42 edge into the locker room at halftime.

"My kids didn't have any energy," Hunter said. "They knew I was sick and wasn't there for shootaround. It was a recipe for getting beat, so I'm proud of my kids. I learned more about my team tonight than I did the other day."

The last time the Green Wave shot north of 60 percent from the field in the first half was an 18-for-28 (.643) effort on Feb. 8, 2018 at Tulsa.

Tulane kept its hot hand shooting to start the second half and got a handful of stops to race out on an 10-2 scoring run, capped by back-to-back jumpers by Hightower, and build its first double-digit lead of the night, 54-44, with 17:04 remaining.

Jackson State punched back with seven straight points in less than two minutes to cut its deficit to just three, but the Wave had another response with six straight points, including consecutive jumpers by Zhang, to get the advantage back to nine, 60-51, as the Tigers called timeout with just over 13 minutes to go.

"I've always said: 'What's going to happen when things don't go well?'" Hunter said. "Things didn't go well in the first half and we responded great."

Despite having the margin cut to six on three occasions, Tulane was able to increase its lead back into double digits for most of the final five minutes and built the advantage to as many as 15 with the score 85-70 on a free throw by Ray Ona Embo with 2:37 left.

Jackson State scored a fast break layup with 10 seconds remaining, as the Wave let the clock run out to preserve the nine-point win.

The Green Wave outscored the Tigers, 17-4, off turnovers and 40-30 in the paint.

Tulane closes out its three-game homestand Saturday against Northwestern State. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

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