Freshmen lead the way in Tulsa's second exhibition win

Freshmen Travis Atson and Martins Igbanu showed a glimpse of the future, and it looked promising.

Atson and Igbanu scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to lead Tulsa to an 84-52 victory on Monday night over Northeastern State in front of an announced crowd of 3,332 in Tulsa’s final exhibition game.

Atson scored the first points of the game, a three-pointer on his first shot, and five of eight from the field, including two of three three-pointers, as the Golden Hurricane cruised to a 46-17 halftime lead. The 6-foot-5 Atson had eight of his points in the first half and played a team high of 22 minutes.

“Travis Atson in his first start, I thought he was outstanding tonight,” said third-year TU coach Frank Haith.

The 6-8 Igbanu came off the bench and looked strong, especially in the second half where he scored 11 points. He finished with four rebounds and a blocked shot, and was an impressive nine of 10 from the free throw line in just 12 minutes of playing time.

“I thought Martins was really, really efficient,” Haith added.

Atson and Igbanu have seemed to solidify their spots in the rotation for Tulsa. Besides Atson, starters included Pat Birt, Sterling Taplin, E.K. Edogi and Junior Etou. The first three players off the bench on the first substitution were Jaleel Wheeler, Lawson Korita and Igbanu.

Playing time was spread around as a total of 11 of the 13 players who saw action played at least 12 minutes.

Tulsa’s biggest lead of the game was at 36 points at 69-33 midway through the second half against an NSU team from Tahlequah that has won only 15 games over the last two years playing in NCAA Division II, including an 8-18 mark under third-year coach Jason Tinsley.

Wheeler, a 6-4 juco transfer from Kilgore (TX) College, led Tulsa in scoring in the first half, where he scored all of his nine points in the game. Wheeler looks like he will play starter minutes while beginning games off the bench to provide a scoring boost when he comes in. He scored 14 points in the first exhibition game.

Birt scored 13 points and was one of five on three-pointers, and had six rebounds in 21 minutes.

Tulsa’s inside game again looked strong. Starters Edogi and Etou each scored eight points, while Etou led all players with 10 rebounds. Added to that are Igbanu, Will Magnay and Geno Artison. Magnay had five points and five rebounds, and Artison had six points, including a three-pointer, and six rebounds.

“I thought Will Magnay gave us great minutes,” Haith said of the 6-10 Australian who was a presence on defense with two blocks, and had a nice left-handed jump hook from five feet away.

Junior college transfer Corey Henderson sat out his second straight game as he has not been cleared by the NCAA to play. The status of the 6-4 junior point guard, who transferred from Blinn (TX) College and started out at Wichita State, is up in the air. Henderson was expected to possibly start.

Starting at point guard was Sterling Taplin, who looked solid in scoring seven points in 17 minutes, and had three assists to just one turnover.

“I don’t know if the box says it, but I thought Sterling was really, really poised,” Haith said.

Tulsa was sloppy with the basketball at times, turning the ball over 29 times as the game was getting out of hand.

“We had some turnovers, but I think we showed improvement from the first game,” Haith described. “I saw some guys and some things that I think we can build on.

“We are very, very encouraged about how our young guys are progressing. I saw a lot of young guys do a lot of good things. Now it’s for real on Friday.”

Tulsa hosts Jacksonville State on Friday night in the first game of the regular season.