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Tulsa Basketball Falls On The Road To The Charlotte 49ers In A Tough Conference Loss

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Basketball

Despite a late comeback attempt, the University of Tulsa could not dig itself out of an early hole as the Golden Hurricane lost 84-76 against the Charlotte 49ers at Halton Arena on Wednesday evening.

With the loss, TU drops to 9-6 and 0-3 in The American Athletic Conference. Charlotte improves to 8-7 and 2-1 in The American play.
 
The Hurricane trailed by as many as 26 in the contest but battled back to get as close as eight. However, Charlotte was consistent at the foul line, hitting 11-of-12 in the final two minutes to maintain the advantage and secure the win.
 
Freshman PJ Haggerty led all scorers with 28 points, his seventh 20-point game of the season. Cobe Williams scored 18 with a team-leading five assists, and Matt Reed scored 10. Reed and Haggerty each had five rebounds to lead Tulsa.
 
Four Charlotte players finished in double figures, led by 20 from Nik Graves. Robert Braswell had 19, Igor Milicic Jr. added 18, and Jackson Threadgill scored 14. Milicic Jr. secured a double-double with 10 rebounds in the contest.
 
The Hurricane shot 40.7 percent from the floor for the game and connected on nine 3-pointers. Charlotte hit 45.0 percent of its shots and equaled Tulsa's nine triples. The 49ers held a 17-9 edge on second chance points, getting 13 offensive rebounds to Tulsa's 10, and won the bench battle 33-15.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF . . .
Matt Reed connected on a triple for Tulsa's first points of the game, tying the score at 6-6 at the 16:02 mark. From there, Charlotte went on a 17-0 run over the next five minutes to take control of the half before a Haggerty old fashioned 3-point play put an end to the stretch.
 
A Jared Garcia 3-pointer and a pair of free throws from Haggerty cut the lead to 25-14 with 8:48 to play, but that was the closest it would get in the opening 20 minutes. The 49ers outscored Tulsa 15-3 in a 5:18 stretch to take a 40-18 advantage. Vital to the Charlotte outburst in the first half was Braswell, who came off the bench and knocked down four 3-pointers for 12 of his 14 first half points.
 
Tulsa got on a mini 7-0 run to get the game within 15. It started with a step back 3-pointer from Cobe Williams. Off a Charlotte offensive foul, Haggerty got to the basket for a layup. He then got a steal and was fouled on the shot, knocking down both at the line to get back within 15. The 49ers connected on a jumper with 56 seconds left in the half to send teams to the lockers with Charlotte leading 42-25.
 
Haggerty led the way with 14 points in the opening stanza. Tulsa shot just 7-of-25 (28.0 percent) from the floor, the second half in a row to shoot under 30 percent. The 49ers connected on 17 shots at a 47.2 percent rate.
 
IN THE SECOND HALF . . .
A Haggerty jumper opened the second half, but It wasn't a sign of things to come, as Charlotte scored the next five points before another Reed 3-pointer. But Charlotte quickly pushed its lead back into the 20s, eventually taking a 57-34 lead with 13:59 left on the clock.
 
The 49ers would push its lead out to a game-high 26 with 11:44. Tulsa cut the lead to 18, but Charlotte immediately recovered to get the lead back to 24, 69-45, with 6:05 to play.
 
Over the next two minutes, Tulsa outscored Charlotte 10-0 to get the lead down to 14. Garcia started things with a 3-pointer at the top of the key. Then, Isaiah Barnes got his second steal of the night and Cobe Williams found Haggerty for a layup. Williams proceeded to record a steal and throw down a dunk on the other end, and then Garcia knocked down his second triple in as many shots.
 
Tulsa got the lead under 10 with 1:01 remaining after Jesaiah McWright got a steal, leading to a layup from Haggerty on the other end. From there, the lead bounced between 11 and nine as the 49ers would knock down their free throws and Tulsa either got a field goal or knocked down two free throws as well. A 3-pointer from Cobe Williams ended the scoring with a second left in the game.  
 
GAME NOTES
• Tulsa fell to 9-6 on the season
• The series is now tied at three wins each.   
• Freshman PJ Haggerty had his 14th double-figure scoring game and seventh 20-point game of his season.
• After failing to go to the free throw line for the first time this season against ECU, Haggerty went 12-for-15 (80.0 percent) tonight.
• Cobe Williams reached double figures in scoring for the 11th time this season and 64th in his career.
 
The Golden Hurricane returns home for a Sunday matchup with the Tulane Green Wave in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.