McDade's 22 points boost TU

Brett McDade's not prepared to put the wraps on his Tulsa basketball career.

The senior scored a game-high 22 points -- including 18 in the first half -- to boost the Golden Hurricane to a 61-45 win over Miami (Ohio) in Wednesday's opening round of the College Basketball Invitational Tournament.

TU (21-13) will advance to the quarterfinal round of the inaugural 16-team postseason event. It will host Utah in a Monday game at the Reynolds Center. A game time will be set on Thursday morning.

McDade's shoes will be laced and ready to go.

"It was great to be home again," said McDade, who scored his 1,000th career point in the win. "I never really expected to play another game at home and it was great to come back.

"This was a great game for me today, a great game for our team and a great game for Tulsa. The fans came out and gave us a lot of support. It was just fun."

Tulsa's arena was filled with 5,365 rowdy fans, the highest of the CBI's eight first-round home sites. The crowd cheered the Hurricane's 11th win of its past 14 contests and first postseason appearance and victory since the 2002-03 season.

"What a great crowd," TU coach Doug Wojcik said. "It was absolutely exciting to the players and staff just to see how the fans turned out."

The audience has reason to cheer early and often, as Tulsa quickly jumped out to a 23-8 lead midway through the first half.

McDade, whose game was labeled "phenomenal" by Wojcik, was the spark plug. He connected on his first four 3-point attempts to ignite the early explosion.

"He did what seniors do, stepped in and made shots," Miami interim coach Jermaine Henderson said.

Miami (17-16) placed concentration on Jerome Jordan, after the 7-footer averaged a double-double during TU's run to the Conference USA title game. When pressured, he kicked the ball back out and ball movement would find open shots.

Miami, from Oxford, Ohio, wouldn't go down easily. The RedHawks rallied to tie the game at 27 when Kenny Hayes drilled a 3-pointer over Glenn Andrews' outstretched hand with 2:30 left in the first half.

McDade had a traditional three-point play and followed with a 3-pointer on Tulsa's next possession to make it 33-27 at halftime.

TU broke free of Miami at the beginning of the second half. The Hurricane scored the first nine points to extend its lead to 42-27. Ben Uzoh had seven of his 16 points during that stretch.

"It was important," Uzoh said. "At halftime, we had an edge. We got to such an early lead, we knew they were going to throw a punch. We had to take it and then start punching back."

Miami, of the Mid-Ameri can Conference, never drew closer than 11 points for the remainder of the game.

"What Tulsa did is exemplify why it's important when you're at home during some of these tournaments," Henderson said. "They were alive. They were energetic. It looked like they were ready for postseason. You have to tip your hats to them, especially because I thought they played well on both ends of the floor."

Tulsa tried to push the basketball against Miami, which allowed only 60 points per game. "That's what coach stressed all during practices, an up-tempo game," said McDade, who also had six assists against no turnovers. "They were going to try to grind it out because they like to have a slow tempo."

Miami was held to 18 second-half points.

"You saw how hard we worked and ran just to get 61 points against them," Wojcik said. "On the other side of that, our defense was pretty good, too. Our kids were really alert because they run a lot of set plays."

Calvin Walls finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, and Jordan finished with six points and a dozen rebounds. Miami was led by Rodney Haddix's 12 points.

Wojcik is excited to play another game.

"I don't care if it's the NIT or the CBI, I'm really happy that we have a chance to play in the postseason," Wojcik said. "This gives us a great opportunity. This whole setting was fantastic."

Eric Bailey 581-8391
eric.bailey@tulsaworld.com

Tulsa 61, Miami (Ohio) 45

Miami (17-16)

Assists: T.Pollitz 3, E.Pollitz 2, Hayes 1, Richburg 1 . Blocks: T.Pllitz 1, McCombs 1. Turnovers: Richburg 2, T.Pollitz 1, Hayes 1, Haddix 1, Winbush 1 . Steals: T.Pollitz 1, Hayes 1, Moosmann 1, Haddix 1 . Technical fouls: None .

Tulsa (21-13)

Assists: Uzoh 3, Earls 3, Reese 2, Walls 1, Jordan 1, Andrews 1 . Blocks: Walls 2, Jordan 2, Uzoh 1, Earls 1 . Turnovers: Uzoh 3, Reese 2, Andrews 2, Walls 1, Reese 1, Team 1 . Steals: Mitchell 2, McDade 1 . Technical fouls: None .

Attendance -- 5,365

FAN FAVORITE

Tulsa drew 5,365 fans to the Reynolds Center, which was the highest of the College Basketball Invitational's first-round games:

1. Tulsa 5,365

2. UTEP 5,315

3. Bradley 5,114

4. Nevada 4,502

5. Virginia 4,022

6. Washington 3,227

7. Old Dominion 2,036

8. Ohio 1,169

CBI SCOREBOARD

First Round

WEST
Tuesday

Houston 80, Nevada 79

Wednesday

Valparaiso 72, Washington 71

EAST
Tuesday

Virginia 66, Richmond 64

Old Dominion 68, Rider 65

SOUTH
Wednesday

Tulsa 61, Miami (Ohio) 45

Utah 81, Texas-El Paso 69

MIDWEST
Tuesday

Ohio 80, Brown 74

Wednesday

Bradley 70, Cincinnati 67

Quarterfinals

Monday
WEST

Valparaiso (22-13) vs. Houston (23-9), TBA

EAST

Virginia (16-15) vs. Old Dominion (18-15), TBA

SOUTH

Utah (18-14) vs. Tulsa (21-13), TBA

MIDWEST

Bradley (18-15) vs. Ohio (20-12), TBA

Semifinals

Wednesday, March 26

East champion vs. West champion, 6 p.m.

South champion vs. Midwest champion, 8 p.m.

Championship Series

Monday, March 31: TBD, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, April 2: TBD, 7 p.m.

Friday, April 4: TBD, 7 p.m., if necessary