TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Freshman point guard Brett McDade scored a
career-high 22 points and teammate Chris Wallace contributed with
defense in the final four minutes, cooling off red-hot Jake Sottos
as Tulsa defeated Hawaii 83-76 Friday.
Sottos scored 24 points, his second best career game to the 25
he scored in a 76-73 victory over Tulsa earlier this year.
His 3-pointer tied the score at 68-68 with 4:58 remaining, but
Wallace, a 6-2 defensive specialist, entered the game and blanked
him down the stretch, blocking his only other shot attempt. Wallace
also contributed a crucial 3-pointer of his own to put Tulsa ahead
74-73 with 2:50 to play. From there Tulsa made 8-of-9 free throws
to pull away.
"Chris Wallace did a great job on Sottos and made some huge
plays in the final minutes, said Tulsa interim coach Alvin
Williamson.
"He didn't let him get off anything in the last four minutes."
Tulsa, 4-11 in the Western Athletic Conference and 8-17 overall,
shot 66.7 percent in the second half (14-21) and also made 21 of 25
second-half free throws.
Jarius Glenn had 16 points, center Anthony Price had 15 after a
slow start and Wallace contributed 11. Guilherme Teichmann led
Tulsa with 10 rebounds and made two crucial free throws with 15.9
seconds left to put Tulsa ahead 79-75. Matt Gibson had 20 points
for the Warriors, including a drive that cut it to 77-75 with 1:32
to play.
Jeff Blackett had 13 poiints and Julian Sensley 11 for Hawaii,
which, like Tulsa, heated up drastically in the second half,
shooting 55 percent after a 32 percent first half.
Ahead by four with 11.9 seconds left, Tulsa gave Hawaii a chance
when McDade fouled Gibson on an out-of-bounds play. Gibson missed
his second free throw and Glenn rebounded, was fouled and made both
free throws with 10.8 seconds left.
The seven-point deficit was the largest losing margin of the
season for Hawaii, 14-10 and 6-8. It was the last regular-season
meeting for the rivals as WAC opponents, as Tulsa goes to
Conference USA next year. Hawaii leads the series 11-9. Tulsa led
31-28 after a ragged first half, but the two teams put on a
shooting clinic in the second half. Sottos made four 3-pointers
after the break.