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Hurricane romps past Rice; will play UAB next

Tulsa center Jerome Jordan dunks against Rice in the first half of their C-USA Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday in Memphis. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World

 
By ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer
Published: 3/13/2009  3:25 AM
Last Modified: 8/20/2009  7:13 AM

 MEMPHIS — Ray Reese's do-or-die attitude shined through for Tulsa on Thursday afternoon.

Reese's game-high 22 points fueled the Golden Hurricane to a dominating 73-51 victory over Rice in a Conference USA Tournament quarterfinal contest.

"We were knocking down shots and shared the ball," said Reese, who connected on six 3-pointers. "They were looking for me and I was feeling it a little bit. The shots went in and I was happy.

"This is the last go-around," said Reese, a senior. "Every game is important and might be my last. I just want to go out and do whatever I can to help the team win."

Up next for second-seeded TU is a semifinal matchup with No. 3 UAB. The Blazers survived an overtime thriller against Southern Miss when Paul Delaney connected on a buzzer-beating shot in the lane to give his team a 74-73 win.

Tulsa and UAB will meet at 5:30 p.m. Friday in a semifinal contest. Top-seeded Memphis will take on either UTEP or Houston in a 3 p.m. contest.

Tulsa's victory walk off the FedExForum floor was subdued following the 22-point win over Rice.

The Hurricane (23-9) was missing Bishop Wheatley, who was ejected for an intentional flagrant foul when he broke up Lawrence Ghoram's fast-break layup attempt in the second half. About an hour after the game, the league ruled that the junior would serve a one-game suspension for violating C-USA's Sportsmanship Policy.

TU coach Doug Wojcik chose not to comment on the C-USA decision to sideline the starting forward in his team's most important game this year.

"We just have to rally together more so than any other time, depending on what happens," Ben Uzoh said before Wheatley's suspension was announced. "Obviously we're hoping for the best, but like last year, we're just going to rally together."

Wheatley suffered a broken foot midway through TU's charge to the league title game and missed the C-USA Tournament's final two games last year.

UAB (22-10) will provide a staunch challenge for Tulsa. The Hurricane needed a last-second basket by Jerome Jordan to beat the Blazers 75-74 in Tulsa earlier this year.

"They have good players and are very talented," Uzoh said. "We have a lot of respect for them. It's always a war when we play them, especially the last two times."

It was the only negative of a quarterfinal win that came in dominating fashion. The second-seeded Hurricane proved a first-round bye was beneficial by racing to a 25-3 lead.

No. 10 Rice (10-22) scored the game's first basket, but watched TU score 25 of the next 26 points. The Owls didn't have a field goal for a 12:37 stretch during that period.

Wojcik said he wrote the "focus is terrific" on a board after the game.

"Because of that, I think it's a real benefit (having a first-round bye)," Wojcik said. "If you come into the game taking things for granted, then it's certainly not a benefit.

"We had to go out and take care of business."

Rice missed 10 straight shots, as the Hurricane pulled away.

"They took away some things that we wanted to do," Rice's Rodney Foster said. "They got out to a little run and we couldn't stop it quick enough. They controlled the game at the beginning."

Tulsa's lead reached as high as 27 points in the second half, and Wojcik began unloading the bench to get his players rest for the rest of the way.

"Fortunately we were able to do that," Wojcik said. "We had a lead, and we tried to take some minutes off of these guys a little bit. We remember what it was like last year when we were four straight days with two games in overtime.

"That worked out really well for us, and hopefully that will pay off as the tournament advances."

Uzoh scored 14 points, and Justin Hurtt ended with 10 points for TU.



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



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By ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer

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COMMENTS 
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5 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "C-USA Tournament: TU routs Rice, faces UAB next," which was published on 3/12/2009.
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GoldenDriller1, Out of State (3/12/2009 2:50:47 PM)
Good Win TU - keep your eyes on the prize, that isto win the next game, then bring home the championship trophy on Saturday. GO TU.
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Ignatz, Broken Bow (3/12/2009 4:46:30 PM)
GO TU!
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sharkbate, decatur (3/12/2009 5:25:27 PM)
just think Tulsa if they do advance they will play Memphis the best college team money can buy good luck tulsa univesity., go for the gold
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interestedgal, (3/13/2009 7:03:08 AM)
play at a time boys....can't wait for tonight....avenge the idiot CUSA officials and hammer UAB.....get BW into the finals....
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sportswriter, (3/13/2009 2:33:02 PM)
Can anyone tell me where to find the boxscore of TU v. Rice game? I can't find it among the World broadsheet pages or online. I've searched several times.
 

 
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