Wave Rolls Past ECU in Triple OT
Louis Dabney tossed in 32 points, many coming at the best possible times for the Green Wave and Malik Morgan scored 26 to lead Tulane back from a 13-point second half deficit to pick up a 100-92 triple overtime win over East Carolina Wednesday night in Minges Coliseum.
Dabney who scored 25 of his 32 in the second half led four players in double-figures for the Tulane(9-16/2-10 AAC) that also included 16 from Dylan Osetkowski to go along with 11 boards and a double-double from Cam Reynolds who scored 11 and hauled down 12 boards.
Prince Williams scored 25 for ECU in a losing cause to go along with 25 from B.J. Tyson and 20 from Kentrell Barkley who also had 14 rebounds in the contest.
“Congratulations to Tulane. It was another heart breaking loss for us in multiple overtimes here at home,” said ECU head coach Jeff Lebo, “These sting a great deal because we had the game right where we wanted it. I know from experience, I was in them, I knew from experience and felt it and we just couldn’t step on their throat, we couldn’t make a couple of plays to kind of extend it to where we needed it to go. And they made some shots. Give them some credit. We go 3 of 16 (from three) and they’re toward the bottom of the league in shooting and made 12 out of 31. Morgan made in the second half all of his that were really timely threes.”
“From the ten minute mark on and all of the overtimes I thought we looked tired legged defensively in particular and they took advantage of it,” Lebo said.
Prince Williams talked about what happened down the stretch to ECU.
“Defensive breakdowns, we gave them a lot of rhythm threes, they got open in the deep corner especially and I think we just let them back in the game,” said the ECU point guard, "We were up but thirteen or something at the thirteen minute mark or so and we could have buried them at that point, but breakdowns in our defense in our zone just cost us. It’s tough man, we’ve just got to bounce back, get in the gym and keep getting better and get ready for Cincinnati on Saturday. This was tougher than the UConn loss. It’s tough to swallow right now."
“It’s tough. We just have to minimize the breakdowns because in the end it’s just the breakdowns on defense,” Barkley said after the game.
Ed Conroy picked up what was a pivotal American Athletic Conference win for his Tulane ball club after what has been a tough season thus far.
“It seems like when our two teams get together, guys start stepping up and offensively they put on a show. Tonight was no different. I had a fun time coaching our group tonight, but I admitted the way they competed as well. Jeff always has his team ready and I’ve always said that he does the best job of putting his players in positions to expose match ups that you have. I thought he did a great job of that tonight. He exposed some of our guys on the drive, but our guys were able to rise to the challenge and make a nice comeback in the second half, so I’m proud of our guys and the way they competed."
The Pirates, who controlled much of the first twenty minutes, took an early 11-7 lead on a Caleb White’s only three-pointer of the half. After going up by seven at 14-7, Tulane began to rally behind three buckets from Louis Dabney to tie the game at 17 with just under eight minutes in the half.
But Kentrell Barkley’s dish to Prince Williams in the fast break and a three-point play from Caleb White moved ECU back in the lead at 22-16 at the 6:41 mark in the first period. ECU went up by as much as ten before a pair of Dylan Osetkowski baskets in the paint helped Tulane close to within six at 26-20.
ECU post man Michel Nzege then went to work with an up-and-under move and a subsequent jumper from the key before adding a free throw to a 33-25 lead with less than a minute before halftime. Then Malik Morgan’s long bomb at the buzzer for his eighth first half point helped the Green Wave close to 34-29 at intermission.
Osetkowski led Tulane with 11 and Tyson had eight points to lead the Pirates who hit 50 percent of their shots in the first half to 41.7 percent for the Wave.
Despite a Tulane three-pointer from Von Julian, ECU opened the second half with a 14-6 run that put the Pirates up by eleven at 45-34. ECU extended the lead to 51-39 on a B.J. Tyson baseline drive. But a pair of Malik Morgan bombs for the Green Wave and a three-point play from Dylan Osetkowski that helped chop the Pirates’ lead to 60-54 with just under eight minutes to go.
Morgan remained hot with his fourth three-pointer, a steal and a layup and then Dabney’s steal and score tied the game at 61 with 6:10 to play. Prince Williams’ drive down the lane and a Michel Nzege bucket in the paint with three minutes to play helped East Carolina maintain a four-point 67-63 lead.
Then Louis Dabney’s hoop and harm from the free-throw line tied the contest at 69 apiece with 1:42 to play before a B.J. Tyson jumper put ECU up by two in the final minute.
Tulane had the basketball with 14.8 seconds to play where Dabney took the ball in the lane and scored with 2.4 seconds to play. That tied the contest at 71-71 to throw the game into overtime.
Barkley went to the line on a pair of occasions where he hit three of four as ECU held a 78-73 lead with two minutes to go in overtime. Then Cam Reynolds was fouled and hit both ends of the one-and-one to cut the ECU lead to three. Dabney’s subsequent three point bomb with thirteen seconds to play then put the game into a second overtime tied at 78-78.
After a made free throw from Osetkowski that found Tulane up by one point, Mike Zangari was fouled at the other end of the court where he hit one of two free throws for ECU to tie the game at 79 with 2:10 to play. Then Prince Williams found B.J. Tyson with 1:40 to play for a two-point 81-79 ECU lead.
But Cam Reynolds baseline bomb gave Tulane the lead at 82-81 with a minute to go before Tyson’s drive for ECU put the Pirates up by two with just forty seconds to play. Louis Dabney then negated ECU’s efforts on the other end of the floor with a drive, basket and a free throw to put Tulane up by a point with 24 seconds to go. Barkley then scored in the paint for ECU to push the game into a third overtime.
Reynolds hit a pair of free throws after Nzege committed his fifth foul to put Tulane up by two. Tyson countered for ECU with a bucket. Then Frazier’s three point play for Tulane and Morgan’s layup found the Wave up by three at the two minute mark despite a bucket from B.J. Tyson. Then Louis Dabney’s trey put Tulane up by six with 1:48 to play.
Zangari’s miss in the paint with 1:24 to play led to Osetkowski’s reverse dunk attempt that was negated by Zangari who fouled out on the play with 59.6 seconds to go in the third overtime. Osetkowski hit one of two from the stripe to give the Green Wave a seven point lead that B.J.Tyson cut to six with a free throw at the ECU end of the court.
An ECU missed three-pointer from Caleb White led to a Barkley foul that put Dabney at the stripe where he hit both to give Tulane a 98-90 lead with 37 seconds in the third overtime. Tyson was able to cut the lead to six with a jumper at the 32 second mark. Dabney was fouled in the backcourt where he then hit both free throws for a 100-92 Tulane lead with 29 seconds to play.
ECU was unable to score at the end and Tulane took the triple-overtime win 100-92.