Tulsa gets late comeback win over Missouri State, 73-72

P.J. Haggerty's desperately needed shot is one of the great clutch shots in TU history.

It certainly saved a game, and perhaps, a season.

Haggerty's off-balance, 8-foot floater in the lane while being fouled with 3 seconds left, and his subsequent free throw, gave Tulsa a miraculous 73-72 comeback win over Missouri State on Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 3,558 at the Reynolds Center.

Tulsa (6-3) desperately needed to win the game for confidence, coming off a poor performance against OSU.

The Golden Hurricane needed to show it could win a close game, especially one where it seemed like all was lost.

"We just didn't quit," said Haggerty, who led all scorers with 24 points. "Good things happen to those who don't quit."

TU trailed 69-61 with less than three minutes left, but fought back. However, it took a missed 1-and-1 by the Bears' best free-throw shooter, Alston Mason, with 7 seconds remaining and no timeouts left, with Tulsa down 2 points, for TU to have a chance in the closing seconds.

Carlous Williams rebounded the missed free throw and made an outlet pass to Cobe Williams, who zipped the ball down court to Haggerty on the wing, who quickly drove to the basket and was fouled while shooting the awkward runner before falling to the floor.

The delirious Tulsa crowd had to wait for Haggerty to rattle in his free throw, as Missouri State had called its final timeout to ice him. Then, Mason's game-ending shot just inside the halfcourt line along the right sideline almost banked in, but didn't, and Tulsa could breathe a sigh of relief.

"I just had confidence in myself to get into the paint and make something happen," Haggerty said.

The play was designed for Haggerty to drive and then dish back to Cobe Williams for a game-tying layup. But Haggerty didn't feel there was enough time left when he got the ball, so he made the aggressive drive to the basket, and was fouled by Damien Mayo while throwing up his desperation runner.

Being down 10 points with less than 6 minutes left looked depressing for Tulsa, but TU coach Eric Konkol knew that Tulsa still was in the game.

"Coach Konkol was preaching to us, when we called a timeout, he said the game's not over," Haggerty said. "There's so much time left on the clock for us to come back and get some stops, get some buckets. And that's what we did.

"We just stayed together, and we just kept going and never gave up. And then the results, they showed it."

Konkol praised the grittiness of his team for the improbable comeback.

"We just kept hanging in there and found a way," Konkol said.

Missouri State (7-4) is a good team that destroyed ORU 84-69 earlier in the season. Tulsa's former MVC conference rival is athletic, experienced, and tenacious.

Incredibly, the Bears outrebounded Tulsa 47-26, including a sickening 18-1 advantage in offensive rebounds. Also, Tulsa rarely was able to stop Missouri State when the Bears were building up their second half lead after trailing TU by two early in the second half.

"It really came down to some stops down the stretch," Konkol said. "They scored 20 times on 25 possessions. On the last 5, they got that one bucket."

A play Cobe Williams made while trailing 67-59 typified Tulsa's good fortune. Williams stole the ball near midcourt, but the ball was going out of bounds until it hit an official and bounced right back to Williams, who then raced down the court with an easy layup with 5:12 remaining.

Still, it wasn't until Isaiah Barnes canned a three-pointer with 2:45 left that Tulsa made a move to really cut the lead. Barnes' triple cut a 69-61 deficit to 69-64. Cobe Williams then made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 2:11 left to cut the lead to 69-66.

But Alston then provided a dagger, the one bucket Konkol was talking about, when he threw up a prayer of a contested three-pointer with the shot clock about to expire with 1:43 left to build the lead back up to six at 72-66.

Still, Haggerty's ensuing driving bucket cut the lead back to 72-68 with 1:27 left. Two missed free throws by Missouri State followed, and when Haggerty made two free throws with 43.1 seconds remaining, the score was 72-70.

A missed three-pointer by Missouri State's Mayo led to another Bears offensive rebound, which set up the dramatic sequence when Alston, an 82.1 percent free throw shooter and the Bears' leading scorer at 17.6 points per game, was fouled to give Missouri State a chance to ice the game.

Haggerty made 8 of 12 shots from the field while not attempting a three-pointer, and made all 8 of his free throws. Tulsa was 18 of 22 (81.8 percent) from the line.

A big reason Tulsa was able to overcome the rebounding disparity was that it took care of the ball with only 6 turnovers. That was huge considering Tulsa has had turnover problems this season.

"Turning it over 6 times - we celebrated that in the locker room," Konkol said.

Barnes added 13 points, while Cobe Williams and Jared Garcia each had 11 points.

Tulsa shot 48.1 percent from the field, and only 5 of 17 (29.4 percent) on three-pointers. Missouri State shot 41.1 percent from the field and was 8 of 27 (29.6 percent) on threes. The Bears were only 4 of 8 from the free throw line.

Chance Moore led the Bears with 17 points, while Alston and Donovan Clay each had 13 points.

The importance of this confidence building win can't be overstated for a young squad like Tulsa's. Especially coming off losing sharpshooter Keaston Willis when he reinjured his foot after just two games back.

"It's a big thing, going through the season, just believing in each other," Haggerty said.

Konkol was both excited and relieved after the victory.

"Come watch this team. We're not dull," Konkol said. "This is a great win to build on."

Tulsa next hosts Mississippi Valley State Tuesday night at 7 p.m.