Late rally not enough for Tulane in home loss to USF

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane men’s basketball team trailed by 23 points with seven minutes remaining, and despite a furious rally that saw the Green Wave cut the deficit to just three points, they suffered an 80-75 American Athletic Conference defeat to USF on Thursday evening at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Samir Sehic scored a career-high 23 points off the bench on 8-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range to go with seven rebounds, while Ray Ona Embo scored 15 points and grabbed eight boards. Cameron Reynolds contributed 11 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Melvin Frazier compiled 10 points, six rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks.

Colin Slater added 10 points and a career-high five assists off the bench for Tulane (12-8, 3-5 AAC).

USF (8-13, 1-7 AAC) was led by Stephan Jiggetts’ 23 points and five assists. Terrance Samuel (16 points and 12 rebounds) and Payton Banks (14 points and 10 rebounds) produced double-doubles, as Justin Brown contributed 10 points and seven boards off the bench.

The Green Wave made 12 of their final 16 shots on the night, while the Bulls did not make a field goal in the final seven minutes, as their final 18 points came at the free throw line.

Tulane scored the first basket of the night on its first possession, but USF responded with a 10-0 scoring run over three and a half minutes down to the 15:56 mark. The Green Wave cut the deficit to just three, 16-13, on a Sehic 3-pointer with 10:54 to go and again, 25-22, on the completion of a three-point play by Colin Slater with 3:19 left, but would draw no closer in the opening period.

The Bulls would finish the half with a 6-0 run, capped by a Jiggetts jumper inside the final minute, to take a 31-22 lead into halftime.

Tulane shot 8-for-26 (.308) overall, 2-for-10 (.200) beyond the 3-point arc and 4-for-5 (.800) at the free throw line in the first half, while USF went 12-for-25 (.480) on the floor, 5-for-11 (.455) from outside and made just two of five foul shots, while owning a 20-13 advantage on the glass.

The Bulls’ scoring streak continued into opening minutes of the second half and reached 11 in a row in building their first double-digit lead of the night, 36-22, but an Ona Embo three-point play and a pair of Sehic free throws ended the spree and brought the margin back to single digits with 17:01 remaining.

USF’s lead ballooned to as large as 23 with exactly seven minutes to go and the score 62-39, before Tulane pieced together an 8-0 run in less than 90 seconds that ended with a Reynolds three-point play.

The Wave’s big comeback was already underway, when a Sehic trey went through the nylon with 1:18 to bring the deficit back to single digits, 71-63. Slater connected on a triple of his own with 38 seconds to go to cut it to just six, 74-68, and after the Bulls made one of two free throws, a Cornish layup brought Tulane within five, 75-70, with 30 ticks left on the game clock.

Sehic converted a three-point play with 18 seconds remaining to make it 76-73, but the Green Wave would not draw any closer as time ran out.

The Green Wave finished the night shooting 26-for-63 (.413) overall, 9-for-28 (.321) beyond the arc and 14-for-20 (.700) at the foul line, while the Bulls went 24-for-49 (.490) from the floor, 9-for-21 (.429) from outside and 23-for-37 (.622) at the charity stripe.

While committing just nine turnovers on the night, the Wave outscored USF, 32-22, in the paint, 16-13 off turnovers and 35-21 off the bench, but were outrebounded, 42-33.

Tulane will take a six day break before heading to Greenville, N.C. to face East Carolina on Wednesday, January 31. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. (CT) at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNews.