PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Tulsa and Wichita State earned American Athletic Conference men's basketball victories on Saturday as both teams protected their home courts. The Golden Hurricane downed Temple, 76-58, while the Shockers defeated Tulane, 77-62.
Saturday, February 9
Tulsa 76, Temple 58
Sterling Taplin scored a game-high 14 points and Tulsa held Temple to a season-low 30.6-percent shooting on its way to a 76-58 win on Saturday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Taplin went 6-of-9 from the field for the Golden Hurricane (14-10, 4-7), who shot a season-high 55.4-percent. He led a balanced effort for Tulsa, which finished with five players in double-figures, including DaQuan Jeffries (13 points), Martins Igbanu (12 points), Darien Jackson (10 points) and Jeriah Horne (10 points).
The Hurricane outscored the Owls (17-7, 7-4) 40-8 in the paint and held a 37-31 rebounding edge.
Meanwhile, Temple was led by 13 points from Shizz Alston Jr., who entered the contest ranked third in the American Athletic Conference averaging 18.3 ppg. The senior got off to a hot start with 11 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, but was held without a field goal over the game's final 30 minutes.
Tulsa shot 61.5-percent (16-of-26) in the first half and led by as much as a dozen. The home squad led for almost the entire period, taking the lead for good following back-to-back triples from Horne and Jeffries in the opening minutes.
A 3-pointer from Quinton Rose trimmed the Tulsa lead to 22-21 midway through the period before the Hurricane went on a 13-2 run and its largest advantage of the period, 35-23.
Tulsa made six straight shots during the spurt, which began with a Sterling Taplin trey. Martins Igbanu then made three straight baskets and the run was polished off with a Jeffries dunk and jumper by Horne.
A Taplin layup just before the halftime buzzer gave Tulsa a 39-31 lead at the break.
Temple went on an 8-0 run early in the second half to pull within 46-42, but the Hurricane did not allow another Temple basket for nearly eight minutes to rebuild the lead. Taplin and Joiner each hit 3-pointers during an 8-0 run and with seven minutes to play, Taplin started a 12-0 stretch that put the game away.
The Tulsa lead grew to as much as 75-52 following a three-point play from Jeffries with 4:08 left and the Hurricane cruised to the 76-58 final.
Wichita State 77, Tulane 62
Senior Markis McDuffie scored 25 points to lift Wichita State to its fourth-consecutive victory, 77-62, over Tulane, Saturday night, Feb. 9, at Charles Koch Arena.
WSU (12-11) moved back over the .500-mark for the first time since early January and improved to 5-6 in American Athletic Conference play, following a 1-6 start. Wichita State's four-game winning streak is a season-best. The Shockers are 2-0 all-time against Tulane. The teams will meet again Mar. 9 in the regular season finale in New Orleans.
McDuffie - The American's leading scorer -- notched his 10th 20-point game of the season, tying Cleanthony Early for the Marshall Era's single-season record. He was 8-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-7 from distance, and added a team-high eight rebounds. McDuffie also jumped Gus Santos for 23rd on the career-scoring chart. He has 1,288 points.
Erik Stevenson hit three triples on his way to 13 points, and Samajae Haynes-Jones tacked on 10 points. Jamarius Burton and Jaime Echenique added nine-each. Echenique had seven rebounds and recorded a block for the seventh-straight game.
Connor Crabtree and Caleb Daniels had 17-each for Tulane (4-18, 0-10), which dropped its 12th straight game.
The teams were tied at 12 with 12:50 to play in the first half, but WSU held Tulane without a field goal for nearly five minutes and used a 10-2 push to take control.
McDuffie drained a three, then turned a steal into a breakaway dunk. His back-to-back threes ballooned the Shocker lead to 30-19 with just under eight minutes to go in the opening stanza.
The teams traded hoops over the remainder of the frame. Burton scored his ninth point of the half on a free throw to make it a 41-35 lead at the intermission.
McDuffie scored 18 first-half points on 6-of-9 shooting. He was 3-of-4 from deep and moved into sole possession of 13th on WSU's career three-point field goal chart with 132 (passing Rob Kampman for the most by a non-guard).
Wichita State opened the second-half with a 9-0 run, holding Tulane without a point until the 14-minute mark. Echenique's three-point play made it a 50-35 cushion with 14:50 to go.
Stevenson stretched the lead to 20 with back-to-back threes for a 58-48 margin with 12 minutes to play, and the Green Wave would get no closer than eight the remainder of the contest, sealing the victory for the Shockers.
Wichita State matched a season-high with eight steals and turned 17 Tulane turnovers into 15 points in the contest. The Shockers also outrebounded the Green Wave, 35-33, and outscored the visitors in the paint, 30-12.
The Shockers are 80-6 at Charles Koch Arena over the last six seasons.
WSU has won nine-straight February games, dating back to last year. It was their nation-best 40th February win since 2014 (40-3).
Gregg Marshall moved to within eight wins of 500 for his career (492-192) and within two of 300 at WSU.
UPCOMING GAMES