Men’s Basketball: Tulane tops Louisiana College in final exhibition, 64-56

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University men’s basketball team ended its final exhibition game on the winning side Wednesday beating Louisiana College 64-56 at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

The Green Wave defense made the difference in the contest forcing the Wildcats into 19 turnovers for 18 crucial points on the other end for the Olive and Blue.

The Tulane offense did most of its damage inside the paint outscoring LC 30-16. The painted area was a stronghold for the Green Wave defense as well as they limited the Wildcats to 30 percent (20-of-67) shooting from the field and adding seven blocks.

Freshman Sion James led the way for the Wave on the scoreboard finishing with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting including four triples. The Sugar Hill, Georgia, native also contribute eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jaylen Forbes was the only other player in double digits for Tulane as he ended with 11.

On the defensive end Scott Spencer led the Wave with four steals while Nobal Days and Tylan Pope each tallied a pair of blocks. Kevin Cross cleaned the glass for Tulane with 10 rebounds to go along with eight points in the contest.
The Wildcats cut the Tulane lead down to four early in the second half, but the Green Wave responded stretching the advantage back out to as many as 11 with under eight to play. LC did not go away quietly, however, trimming down the Wave’s lead again cutting it to just five with 3:20 left in the ballgame.

A dunk by Cross followed by an and-one fastbreak layup by DeVon Baker helped Tulane regain control extending the lead back to double digits with under three minutes on the clock. The Green Wave went on to hold off the Wildcats for the 64-56 victory in the final exhibition game before the regular season.

It was a tight, back-and-forth battle throughout the majority of the first half with Tulane and LC exchanging the lead six times and spending nearly five minutes tied. The Green Wave turned the tide after falling behind 23-20 with just over eight minutes to play. With seven minutes on the clock the Wave started its run to retake the lead. A three-pointer by James put Tulane back in front and sparked a 13-0 run to close the opening half and send the Green Wave into the locker room up 33-23.

Six players got into the scoring action in the opening 20 minutes as Spencer paced Tulane with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from downtown. James chipped in eight points while Jaylen Forbes and Baker each had five first half points.

Bailey Hardy and Kae’ron Baker led the Wildcats with 19 points each in the ballgame.

The Wave will be back in action on Tuesday, November 9, for the 2021-22 season opener against Southeastern Louisiana at Fogelman in Devlin at 6 p.m.

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