ECU Falls In Overtime To Tulsa 77-73
Martins Igbanu and Sterling Taplin’s both scored in the last minute of overtime to lift Tulsa to their second straight AAC win 77-73 Sunday afternoon in Minges Coliseum.
Tulsa held as much as a 17-point lead late in the first half before ECU put together a comeback.
Shawn Williams hit a personal best eight three-pointers for the Pirates on the way to a game high 26 points. Igbanu scored 16 points to lead six Tulsa(16-10/6-7 AAC) players in double-figures in the victory.
The Golden Hurricane got off to a fast start with a 17-3 run that had Tulsa out front 20-9 with 8:20 to go in the first half.
Shawn Williams canned a pair three-pointers and Isaac Fleming added a jump shot for ECU(9-16/2-11 AAC) with 4:17 to go in the first period that trimmed the Tulsa lead to nine. Then a pair of Martins Igbanu buckets pushed the lead back to thirteen before the Golden Hurricane took an eleven point 37-26 lead into halftime.
Williams had twelve points at the break to lead all scorers. Igbanu had eleven points a halftime to lead Tulsa.
ECU’s 14-0 run on Williams’ six three-pointer of the game along with baskets from Jayden Gardner and Isaac Fleming cut the Tulsa lead to four at 40-36 just three minutes into the second half. Two Seth LeDay free throws and an Isaac Fleming jumper tied the game at 40-40 with just under sixteen minutes to play.
K.J. Davis’ three-point play on a drive in the paint extended the Pirate lead to six at 54-48 midway into the second half.
Darien Jackson scored on a drive in the paint and Tulsa reclaimed the lead at the 5:54 mark.
The two teams exchanged baskets before Shawn Williams’ personal record eighth three-point jumper of the game gave ECU a one point 67-66 with 54 seconds remaining.
The Pirates had the ball with 12.1 seconds to go but Shawn Williams decided in mid shot to try to pass the basketball and nobody was there to receive it, giving Tulsa the ball. With .6 left on the clock, Jeffries’ baseline jumper at the buzzer rimmed out sending the game into overtime.
With Tulsa up by just a point,put the game out of reach for the Golden Hurricane who took the victory.
