SMU Wins At Tulane
NEW ORLEANS — No. 10 SMU survived a sluggish first half to down Tulane 60-45 on Sunday, and the Mustangs remain the only undefeated team in the country.
The final score does not indicate how close the game was for most of the contest. SMU (17-0, 6-0 American Athletic Conference) used a 10-0 run in the final minutes to pull away from Tulane (8-11, 1-5) at Devlin Fieldhouse.
“I thought it was one-possession game, to be honest with you,” SMU coach Larry Brown said. “They (Tulane) were well-prepared. That’s the best defense that they’ve played.”
Forward Markus Kennedy led SMU with 13 points along with eight rebounds. Fellow forward Marcus Tolbert scored 12 points with nine rebounds and six steals.
SMU, playing its second conference road game in a row, was held well below its average of 81.4 points per game. The Mustangs came into the game shooting 52 percent but were held to 40 percent shooting by the Green Wave.
“I think you’ve got to give them credit, they did an unbelievable job
defensively,” SMU’s Brown said. “We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball and executing on the offensive end.”
Tulane would have made a stronger upset bid, but the Green Wave shot just 29 percent and committed 20 turnovers.
SMU point guard Nic Moore, who got in early foul trouble, scored 12 points despite making just two of nine shots from the field. However, Moore was 8-for-8 from the free throw line, with all of them coming in the final 4:25.
Forward Ben Moore added 11 points for SMU, which is down to seven scholarship players.
Tulane led 30-27 with 14:34 left in the game, then saw SMU go on an 8-0 run to post a 35-30 lead. Tulane never led again.
Guard Melvin Frazier led the Green Wave with 11 points and guard Malik Morgan added 10.
SMU led 23-19 at halftime despite going nine minutes without scoring.
Tulane wasn’t much better during SMU’s scoring drought. The Green Wave managed only a 6-0 run to tie the score at 11-11 while making just two of 10 shots from the field.
Tulane shot just 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from the field in the first half, which allowed SMU’s 40.7 percent (11-of-27) to look good in comparison. Both teams committed nine turnovers in the opening period.
SMU’s lowest scoring half of the season was caused in part by Nic Moore playing just six minutes after picking up two early fouls. That left freshman guard Shake Milton running the offense for SMU. Milton struggled with four turnovers in the half.
“It was a miracle we were ahead (by four) at halftime with Nic on the bench,” Brown said.
Guard Louis Dabney, Tulane’s leading scorer at 13 points a game, also picked up two fouls in the first half and was limited to one point in eight minutes. He finished with nine points on 2-of-9 shooting.
