Nov. 13, 2011

Box Score |  Notes

Tulsa, Oklahoma - Steven Idlet poured in a career-high 23 points in a 67-52 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in front of 3,750 fans from the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Sunday afternoon.

It was Idlet's fifth career 20+ scoring game. The senior converted 9-of-9 from the field and knocked down his first-ever career three-point attempt for Tulsa's first points of the game. Junior Scottie Haralson added 10 points and eight other Hurricane players scored in the game.

"We're certainly happy to be 2-0 to start the season," said Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik. "I thought Southeastern Louisiana would play us differently than they did after watching their exhibition game. I thought they'd go up-and-down a little bit more, but they really made us work defensively. The possessions were very long. We only had 47 shots for the game, and we would rather have more shots and play a little faster."

"Give Coach Yarbrough credit. He did a really good job with his team to make us guard. They hit some shots. We were down rebounding at the half and came back and out-rebounded them by 10," added Wojcik.

For the game, the Hurricane shot 51 percent from the field, an improvement from Friday nights season-opening 38.5 field goal percentage. Tulsa had a 10-rebound edge, 38-28, and had 16 assists compared to 12 turnovers as 11 Hurricane players saw the court.

The Lions' Brandon Fortenberry, who was held to three points in the first half, finished the game with a team-high 19 points. Tulsa held DeShawn Patterson scoreless in the second half after he scored 11 first-half points.

The Hurricane began the second half with a 4-0 start to increase its lead to 37-20 before Southeastern Louisiana scored the next six points. Daron Populist knocked down two consecutive three-pointers to cut Tulsa's lead to 11 points, 37-26 at the 16:17 mark. A traditional three-point play by D.J.Magley put the Hurricane ahead 40-26 with 15:07 remaining in the contest.

Tulsa built its second half lead to 18 points with 9:58 remaining in the game on a David Wishon layup before the Lions went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to cut the lead to eight points, 51-43, at the 7:52 mark. From there, Tulsa finished out the game out-scoring SLU 16-9 for the 15-point victory. Tulsa made it a double-digit game again, 53-43, with 6:29 remaining in the contest and never fell under a double-figure lead the rest of the way.

Idlet, who scored a team-high 11 first-half points, got the Hurricane going early with his first career three-pointer, followed by a Maduka dunk to give Tulsa a 5-0 lead with less than two minutes gone in the game.

Tulsa ended the first half on an 11-2 run as Tim Peete's three-pointer at the 4:48 mark started the scoring streak and stopped a 5-1 Southeastern Louisiana run that cut the nine-point Hurricane lead to four points.

Tulsa went into halftime with a 33-20 lead.

The Hurricane shot 59-percent in the first half, while holding the Lions to 32-perent from the field and 15-percent from the three-point range. SLU's Patterson kept his team close in the first half with 11 of the Lions' 20 points on 5-of-5 from the field.

Tulsa goes on the road this week to play in the Charleston Classic in Charleston, South Carolina. Tulsa opens up play on Thursday, Nov. 17 against Western Kentucky at 11:30 am (CT). The tournament continues on Friday as Tulsa will play either LSU or Northwestern. The Charleston Classic concludes on Sunday, Nov. 20th.

Tulsa's first two games of the Charleston Classic can be heard on KAKC 1300 AM Radio (the game will not be broadcast on the usual flagship station for Tulsa basketball, 740 AM/102.3 FM KRMG Radio).