Tulsa Charges Back to Claim Mayor’s Cup with 57-52 Win Over Oral Roberts
Tulsa, Oklahoma – Tulsa battled from a 15-point second-half deficit to defeat Oral Roberts 57-52 in the Mayor’s Cup on Wednesday night in front of 9,303 fans at the Mabee Center.
Jerome Jordan led the Hurricane (15-3, 4-0 C-) with 17 points and eight rebounds. Justin Hurtt added 11 points and Steven Idlet chipped in 10 points and three blocks. Joe Richard posted eight points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Kevin Ford led (10-10) with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Dominique Morrison and Warren Niles each added 11 points each.
Tulsa fell behind 15 points with 17:42 left in the second half, but slowly climbed back into the game throughout the second period.
The Hurricane grabbed its first lead since the 17:05 mark in the first half when a pair of Hurtt free throws gave Tulsa a 51-49 lead with 2:38 remaining.
Kevin Ford had a chance to tie the game for after a Richard foul put him at the line with 1:56 left in the game. Ford connected on only one-of-two free throws to cut the deficit to 51-50.
Richard pushed the lead to 53-50 on a put-back slam off of a Ben Uzoh missed jumper with 37 seconds remaining.
scored on the following possession as Dominique Morrison rattled in a fall-away jumper with 29.2 seconds to cut the lead to 53-52. Tulsa broke the ensuing full-court press as Jordan found a wide open Steven Idlet for a slam dunk, giving Tulsa a 55-52 lead with 19 seconds on the clock.
Uzoh drilled two free throws with 8.2 seconds on the clock to seal the 57-52 victory.
“A lot of the guys contributed, but the fact that we held them to two offensive rebounds in the second half won us the game,” Head Coach Doug Wojcik said. They had 11 in the first half. We worked on rebounding, rebounding and rebounding to prepare for this game.”
In the first half, Tulsa and traded baskets early with the Golden Eagles taking an 11-10 lead at the 14:21 mark. then went on a 12-0 run over the next 9:57 to build a 23-10 lead. Jordan ended TU’s scoring drought with a jumper at the 4:25 mark.
The Golden Hurricane continued on an 11-4 spurt over the next four minutes, cutting the deficit to 27-21 on a Hurtt three-pointer with just 18 seconds remaining in the half. ended the half with a Dominique Morrison three-pointer at the buzzer, extending the lead to 30-21.
“It was a hard-fought, ugly game, but we found a way to win,” Wojcik said. “Honestly, give the kids all of the credit in the world. They hung in there and fought for the win. This was a great win for us, it was a great night and I am very happy for our guys, especially the seniors.”
Tulsa will return to action on Saturday, as the Golden Hurricane hosts Rice beginning at 2:00 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. With the purchase of a men’s ticket, fans can stay for the women’s game against Marshall starting at 5:00 p.m.
Updated 01-21-2010
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