Tulsa holds off late rally from Prairie View

With things getting dicey to say the least, it took unheralded Geno Artison to step up and save the day.

Artison, who wouldn’t be many people’s first choice to take a late-game shot due to his inexperience, made the key shot of the game as Tulsa held on to defeat Prairie View A&M 77-73 on Thursday night in front of 3,315 fans at the Reynolds Center.

With a 15-point lead midway through the second half whittled down to a single point at 69-68, Artison stepped up and drained a three-pointer with 52.7 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 72-68. The Panthers never got closer than three points the rest of the game, and never had the ball with a chance to tie the game.

“That was big,” TU coach Frank Haith said of Artison’s three-pointer. “Geno’s a good shooter. He has not shot it well, so hopefully tonight will help him as we move forward to become more relaxed and be a consistent shooter for us.”

The 6-foot-9 Artison entered the game averaging 2.6 points and had made only two of his 14 (14.3 percent) threes coming into the game after hitting nine of 28 (32.1 percent) last season.

Tulsa (6-4) looked like it would easily dispatch Prairie View when it got out to its biggest lead of 17 points at 46-29, and when Junior Etou made a layup with 10:52 left that gave Tulsa a 56-41 lead, most TU fans probably were so comfortable that they stopped paying much attention.

But strange things traditionally happen on Final Exams week, especially at Tulsa where, as any TU alum can tell you, studying for and taking the exams can take its toll on your energy.

After all, making good grades at a great academic institution like TU can be infinitely tougher compared to the exams most of Tulsa’s opponents will take.

“I hate to say 'trap game' because you come off a big win on the road (Kansas State) and we’ve had exams all week, and still have guys with exams tomorrow,” Haith said. “This was going to be a tough one. I knew we were going to have to fight through it.”

At first glance, when looking at the schedule, playing Prairie View doesn’t look like much of a challenge due to their record, now 2-8. But the Panthers, who finished tied for third in the SWAC last year, haven’t played at home all season, and play a schedule filled with reputable opponents in tough venues. The school, located 48 miles northwest of downtown Houston, has an enrollment of 9,400.

This isn’t the Prairie View team that Tulsa defeated by scores of 141-50 and 115-46 in Decembers of 1995 and 2000, respectively.

“They’re a scrappy bunch. I told the team that they weren’t going to be fearful to play us,” Haith said. “They’ve played everybody. They had an RPI of 120 coming into the game. They were tied with Texas A&M, a top 10 team, in the second half, so they’re very capable.”

When Prairie View’s leading scorer, 6-2 junior guard Gary Blackston, who was averaging 17.7 points coming into the game, fouled out with 21 points (eight of 12 from the field) and Tulsa leading 62-49 with 7:16 to play, the Panthers looked finished.

However, Blackston’s fouling out only seemed to get his teammates more into the offense, and, after going zero for 12 in the first half on three-pointers, they went eight of 19 (42.1 percent) behind the arc in the second half, with most coming in a late flurry during their comeback.

But when TU point guard Sterling Taplin fouled out with 4:27 left on a highly questionable offensive foul with the lead already down to 63-56, Tulsa looked like it could be in trouble.

It was a strange game for Taplin, who uncharacteristically had seven turnovers, five assists, and only two points on one of five shooting. Taplin came into the game averaging 12.9 points and only had 16 turnovers for the season in nine previous games. He did, however, grab eight rebounds, including his first two offensive boards of the season.

Fortunately, for Tulsa, combo guard Elijah Joiner was still in the game, and he remained calm running the team, finishing the game with nine points, two assists, three turnovers, and two rebounds.

Still, the Panthers kept coming, and with the Panthers in the double bonus down the stretch, playing aggressive defense proved difficult for the Golden Hurricane at the end of the game. It deteriorated into a foul shooting contest late in the game.

Tulsa had no answer for stopping guard Dennis Jones’ dribble penetration toward the end, as he scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half. When Shaquille Preston hit a wide open three from the left corner with 1:23 left to cut the margin to 69-68, Tulsa was in big trouble.

But Artison, who finished with eight points in 23 minutes, came through with Tulsa‘s only three-pointer of the second half.

And then Tulsa benefited from a toss-up foul call after Jones was called for charging with 46.4 seconds remaining. Jones’ hanging shot had fallen, and for a brief moment, it looked like it was going to be a two plus one and a one-point lead again.

But Corey Henderson, who finished with 15 points, made his two free throws to put Tulsa up 74-68, and made seven of eight in the second half when Tulsa needed it the most. He made one free throw, then finally missed one, to make it a two-possession game at 75-71 with 22 seconds left.

Henderson is a guy Tulsa wants at the line in the closing minutes. He made 82.8 percent (48 of 58) of his free throws last season, and is 17 of 19 (89.4 percent) this season.

“I just relax, tune everything out, and just focus on knocking the free throw down,” Henderson said.

A banked three-point attempt by the Panthers spun out with 17 seconds remaining, and Jaleel Wheeler rebounded, and made two free throws with 10 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Tulsa made 25 of 32 free throws (78.1 percent) for the game, including 18 of 22 in the second half. Prairie View made 11 of 15 from the line, including seven of 11 in the second half.

Etou, averaging a team high 17.3 points and 6.4 rebounds, led the Golden Hurricane with 19 points and nine rebounds.