Tulane avenges loss to ECU, 60-56

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane men’s basketball team started the New Year in winning fashion collecting a 60-56 win over East Carolina to force an American Athletic Conference regular-season series split Saturday afternoon at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

The Green Wave (6-2, 1-2 AAC), which played their first game in 11 days, led from wire-to-wire. Tulane picked up their first win over ECU since Jan. 31, 2018 which snapped a six-game skid in the all-time series against the Pirates.

“This team is growing up right before our eyes,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “That’s a veteran basketball team (ECU), and that is a good win for us.”

Sophomore guard Jaylen Forbes led the way for the Green Wave with a game-high 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting to complement a career-high five steals. His 20 points marked the seventh time this season he has scored in double figures and the second time he’s dropped at least 20 on the opposition.

Joining Forbes in double figures were guards Gabe Watson and Jordan Walker, as they finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Tulane’s defensive effort was once again on full display forcing ECU (7-2, 1-2 AAC) into 21 turnovers and held the Pirates to just 37 percent shooting. Tulane’s 21 forced turnovers and 13 steals were both season highs.

“Defensively, we just keep getting better and better,” Hunter said.

Tulane also held ECU leading scorer Jayden Gardner to a season-low five points and one field goal made. Gardner entered the contest averaging 18.5 points per game which ranked third in the conference.

“We really worked hard the last couple days at making every catch hard and make him (Gardner) earn every basket,” Hunter said. “We had bodies around him at all times. Every catch he had at their place he had one-on-one and we didn’t want him to have that today.”

The Green Wave opened up an eight-point lead in the opening 12 minutes of the game and would go on to take a four-point lead at halftime (28-24), as they shot 36 percent in the opening 20 minutes. Watson and Forbes both chipped in eight points apiece to the lead the scoring effort.

Tulane came out firing in the second half and opened up a nine-point advantage with 13:20 to go in the game. The Pirates fought back, as they trimmed Tulane’s lead to two, 39-37, with 10:45 to go in the game.

ECU came close to overtaking Tulane, as it trimmed the Green Wave’s lead to one twice over the next nine minutes, but was never able to go ahead.

Tulane pushed its advantage to four, 54-50, with just over a minute to go in the game, as Sion James connected on a 3-pointer from the corner. James’ three-pointer was the first of his career, and he finished the game with seven points.

Up next for Tulane is a conference road matchup at Houston on Saturday, January 9. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

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