East Carolina tried its best to give the game away. Tulsa wouldn’t take it.
Despite Dwon Odom’s clutch free throws that sent the game into overtime after colossal last second blunders by the Pirates, it wasn’t enough for Tulsa.
The Golden Hurricane threw another game away in an 85-76 OT loss to East Carolina on Tuesday night in front of an announced crowd of 2,770.
Tulsa (8-11, 2-4 AAC) looked like it was dead after fouling East Carolina (11-9, 3-4) with 2.1 seconds left in regulation, down 69-67. Keaston Willis had missed a 3-point attempt with 8 seconds left.
But amazingly, East Carolina didn’t pull its players off the free throw line, and fouled Odom going for a rebound after a missed front end of a one-and-one by R.J. Felton. Odom calmly sank both free throws to tie the game.
Then, an almost length of the court ECU pass went untouched off an inbounds pass from the left side, and Tulsa had a shot to win with the ball in the frontcourt with 1.2 seconds remaining. But Jared Garcia’s 5-foot shot from the right side was well-defended, and it wasn’t close.
“We showed some real resiliency to find a way to get it back and have a shot to win it,” said Tulsa coach Eric Konkol.
When TU failed to finish the game off, then came the disastrous overtime. Tulsa ran out of gas, for whatever reason. Jordan Riley had 7 points in overtime, and Felton had 4, as the guard duo was too much for Tulsa to handle. The two combined to make all seven free throws in overtime.
“I was very disappointed with our defensive intensity in the second half,” said Konkol. “We tried a number of different things. But the intensity of which we did it needed to be better.
“We have to be able to defend better. We gave up 60 percent in the second half. That’s just not going to get it done.”
Riley continued to back down Tulsa defenders in the second half, scoring 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and overtime. Felton added 24 points. They also combined to hit 6 of 12 three-pointers for the game. Felton leads ECU in scoring at 17.8 points per game. Riley averages 13.6.
“We’re just not getting enough stops,” Konkol said. “Whether we won or lost, I’d still be very disappointed with our defensive performance in the second half.”
Tulsa shot 42.9 percent from the field for the game, while ECU shot 49.1 percent. But giving up 60.9 percent in the second half, as Konkol alluded to, isn’t going to win many, if any games.
The Golden Hurricane seemingly had control of the game early in the second half, leading 51-41 after the first media timeout. But TU fell behind with over 8 minutes remaining and got down 66-60 with under 3 minutes left.
But 7 consecutive points by Isaiah Barnes, which could have been 9 if not for 2 missed free throws, including a three with 1:18 left put Tulsa up again at 67-66. Poor defense, however, allowed Felton to get squared up for a 3-pointer with 16.4 seconds remaining to put ECU back up 69-67.
Odom led Tulsa with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists, while Barnes and Garcia each had 15 points. Willis added 13 points. The biggest disappointment was Ty Archie, whose only two points in 14 minutes came late in overtime when the game was essentially over.
Just as the season was starting to show promise after two consecutive conference wins, Tulsa blows double-digit second half leads in its last two games. First, at South Florida, and now against ECU.
Tulsa has shown in several losses -- in games that it should have won -- that there aren’t enough playmakers on the team. Too many faltered games at the end. It is clear that TU needs major improvement.
The Golden Hurricane will get a chance to prove that premise wrong when it hosts Wichita State (11-7, 1-4) Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
