Men’s Basketball Closes Out Utah, 65-61

Sunday, November 24

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

9:30 A.M.

Tulane University

5-1,0-0AAC

Utah

4-2,0-0Pac-12

Tulane

Utah

Photo by: Joe Faraoni | ESPN Images

Nov 24, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

CONWAY, S.C. – The Tulane men's basketball team scored the last 10 points of the game and held Utah scoreless for the final 4:36 to finish off a 65-61 win in the fifth-place game at the 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational on Sunday at the HTC Center.

The win was also the 450th of head coach Ron Hunter's career and his 379th at the NCAA Division I level.

"We're really proud of our guys," Hunter said. "I had talked about the last the seven months since I took this job, how were we going to handle adversity? In the past it's been a struggle at Tulane. We got down eight, missed a dunk and our kids could have folded then. They just kept grinding on the defensive and I thought defensively we were unbelievable today."

Teshaun Hightower led four Tulane (5-1) scorers in double-figures with a game-high 16 points and made three 3-pointers, while K.J. Lawson added 14 points. Jordan Walker scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half to go with a game-high seven assists and four steals, as Nobal Days scored a season-high 10 points in his second start of the season.

"We could have folded after the first game (of the tournament), but Coach (Hunter) said it's a long tournament," Hightower said. "We just stayed focus. We're ready."

The scoreboard remained tight for a majority of the first half, but Utah (4-2) was able to build a 21-16 edge on a pair of free throws with 7:44 left in the period. The Green Wave responded with a 7-0 scoring run that began with a Hightower 3 and ended with a pair of free throws off the same hand to reclaim the lead, 23-21, in a span of just 90 seconds.

The first half featured five ties and eight lead changes, including a pair in the final 15 seconds. The Utes got a trey from Both Gach at the 14-second mark to make it 31-30, before Lawson drove left into the lane for a layup with one tick remaining on the clock to send Tulane into halftime up by one.

The Green Wave shot 12-for-28 (.429) overall, 4-for-14 (.286) beyond the 3-point arc and 4-for-5 (.800) at the free throw line while forcing Utah into 12 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. The Utes went 11-for-22 (.500) from the floor, 3-for-11 (.273) from deep and 6-for-8 (.750) at the charity stripe.

Neither side built any separation early in the second half, as there were seven more lead changes in the first eight-and-a-half minutes, after Walker drained a jumper with 11:35 left to keep Tulane in front, 43-42.

Utah countered with nine consecutive points in just over two minutes time, capped by a 3-pointer with 9:21 to go, to create an eight-point gap. The Utes kept the margin at eight on a layup with 6:48 left, but the Green Wave made four straight shots – the last a Lawson 3-pointer with 5:39 on the clock – to pull within a pair, 55-53.

Utah extended its lead to six, 61-55, on a basket with 4:36 left, but that was the last time the Utes would send the ball through the nylon.

Walker connected on a step-back jumper on the next possession as the Tulane got underway, before Hightower dropped in a layup with 1:01 remaining to give the Green Wave the lead for good.

After a missed shot and four consecutive Utah fouls to reach the penalty, Christion Thompson sunk two clutch free throws in the final two seconds to put the four-point victory on ice.

"To come back and win two games like we just shows Tulane basketball is back," Hunter said. "This is the first time we spent some time together out of New Orleans as a group. We're kind of learning each other that way, they've got to learn their crazy coach, the things he likes, the things he doesn't like. So many great things, man."

Tulane celebrates Thanksgiving in the midst of a seven-day break before returning home to host Southern University on Sunday, December 1. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m., at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

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