Men’s Basketball: Tulane cruises past Loyola New Orleans in exhbition

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane men’s basketball team used a balance attack at both ends of the floor in its final tune-up before the 2017-18 season with an 84-46 victory over Loyola New Orleans on Thursday night at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Four players scored in double-figures, led by Samir Sehic’s 11 points and nine rebounds, while Ray Ona Embo added 11 points and a team-high three steals. Jordan Cornish chipped in 10 points and four assists, while Caleb Daniels also had 10 points.

In the front court, Bul Ajang and Blake Paul each posted six points and as many rebounds, respectively.

Tulane used its size advantage early, making four of its first five shots including three dunks, to score the first eight points of the game. Leading 10-6 just over four minutes in, the Green Wave erupted with a 14-0 scoring run capped by a Melvin Frazier layup with 10:13 to go and never looked back.

The Green Wave offense was equally as effective as the defense, shooting 18-for-34 (.529) from the floor and 4-for-9 (.444) from 3-point range, while holding the Wolf Pack to just 7-for-23 (.304) shooting, 1-for-7 (.143) beyond the arc and forcing 13 turnovers in the first half to build a 47-23 lead at the intermission.

Tulane did not let up in the second half, pushing the margin to over 30 as part of a 7-0 run to begin the period, capped by a Cornish 3-pointer to make it 56-23 at the 17:40 mark. The Green Wave’s largest lead came with 6:42 left on a trey by Colin Slater to increase the advantage to 77-35 before giving the deepest part of the bench some playing time to run out the clock and preserve the 38-point win.

The Wolf Pack shot just 9-for-39 (.231) overall in the second half and finished the game 16-for-62 (.258), including a 4-for-23 (.174) night from 3-point range.

Loyola was led by Chase Eckholdt’s 19 points.

Tulane will conduct its final week of practice before tipping off the regular season Friday, Nov. 10 against LIU Brooklyn. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.