Tulane rolls past Grambling, 77-65

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane men’s basketball team remained perfect in non-conference play with a 77-65 over Grambling State on Saturday afternoon at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

With the win, Tulane (5-1) improved to 10-0 in non-conference home games under head coach Ron Hunter.

“We are starting to shoot the ball better like I said that we would, I think our turnovers were cut down and when this group peaks, I think we are going to be pretty good,” Hunter said. “We are so far from that, but I like where we are right now. All and all, it was a good effort today, and I thought we played better.”

Sophomore Jaylen Forbes led all scorers with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and a personal-best five 3-pointers made. The Florence, Mississippi native has now scored in double-figures in five of the Green Wave’s six games this season.

Junior guard Gabe Watson was the team’s second leading scorer, as he finished in double figures with 18 points for the second straight game. Watson’s 18-point effort marked the 28th time in his career he has scored in double digits.

Redshirt junior Jordan Walker also chipped in 11 points, five assists and no turnovers, as he has now scored in double figures in five straight contests.

As a team, Tulane dished out 20 assists – the most in the Coach Hunter era and the most since 2018.  The Green Wave also connected on a program-record 10 3-pointers in the first half., while the team’s 14 treys tied for the third most in a single game in program history.

Neither team led by more than three points in the opening eight minutes of the first half, as the lead changed 10 times and featured four ties. A quick 5-0 run over the next two and half minutes gave the Green Wave an point lead, but Grambling (2-4) fought back with an 8-4 push over the next six minutes to trim Tulane’s lead to four (26-22) with 6:25 until the break.

Tulane closed out the first half on a high note outscoring Grambling, 14-7, in the final six minutes to take a 40-29 lead into the locker room.

Coming out of halftime, Grambling cut Tulane’s lead to five, 48-43, thanks to a 14-8 push over the first five and half minutes of the second half. Tulane then fought back with a 14-4 run to push its lead back to double digits, 58-45.

Grambling did trim Tulane’s lead to seven points with 3:56 to go in the game, but that was as close as the Tigers would get for the remainder of the game.

The Green Wave return to action on Tuesday, December 22, as they travel to East Carolina for an American Athletic Conference road contest. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m., and the matchup will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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