SMU (20-4, 10-1 AAC) shot a sizzling 63-percent in the second half and pulled away from Tulsa (12-10, 6-4 AAC) for a 76-53 victory Saturday night in front of 5,606 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Junior Etou and Sterling Taplin led the Hurricane with 18 and 12 points, respectively.
SMU’s Sterling Brown had a game-high 27 points, followed by 19 from Shake Milton and 16 from Semi Ojeleye.
Leading by nine points at halftime, 28-19, SMU out-scored the Hurricane by 14 points in the second 20 minutes and led by double-digits through the final 11:34 after Brown’s two free throws gave SMU a 47-36 lead at that point in the game. The Mustangs had its largest lead of 24 points at 69-45 with 3:39 remaining in the contest.
For the game, SMU scored 36 of their points from three-point range, converting 12-of-27 from long distance.
“We got beat by a really good team tonight. They’re really, really good. They are a team that takes advantage of your mistakes. I thought, defensively, we were really good in the first half. I thought we missed shots and we lost a lot of confidence in what we were doing offensively, in terms of some of our perimeter guys,” said Tulsa head Coach Frank Haith.
Tulsa improved its field goal percentage in the second half by 25-percent to 50-percent, nailing 11-of-22, but the Mustangs converted 17-of-27 in the final stanza. SMU held a 38-to-23 edge on the boards, including nine offensive boards that led to 10 points.
The loss was Tulsa’s fourth in conference play this year, but the first that was more than a three-point deficit. It was the worst home loss for the Hurricane since falling by 23 points to #14 Wichita State on Nov. 20, 2013.