TULSA, Okla. — Corey Henderson Jr. scored 21 points and Martins Igbanu scored 16 and Tulsa used an early run to beat Temple 76-58 on Sunday in a regular-season finale.
Tulsa (19-11, 12-6) enters the American Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed with a first-round bye. Temple (16-14, 8-10) will be the No. 7 seed and will face 10th-seeded Tulane on Thursday in Orlando, Florida.
The Golden Hurricane built a 24-0 lead shooting 8 of 10 from the field, including three 3-pointers, while the Owls missed their first 12 shots before Quinton Rose’s jumper with 9:56 before halftime.
Tulsa led 33-18 at halftime when Temple went on a 9-1 run to start the second half to draw within 34-27 with 16:41 left. The Owls again made it a seven-point contest (51-44) with eight minutes but failed to get closer.
Rose led Temple with 17 points.
"Just a really great performance out of our guys," said Tulsa head coach Frank Haith. "They competed and jumped early into a big lead. As always, it’s tough. Temple is such a good team that they are going to come back in the game and that part of it. But how are we going to respond once that happens?
"I thought we made some good plays because there’s no way we were going to continue on that way because you’re playing a team who has beaten Auburn and Clemson. I am proud of how we responded."