Fresno State
Tulsa
Men's Basketball Holds Off No. 13 Tulsa, 75-73
1/29/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2000
By DENNIS GEORGATOS
AP Sports Writer
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Demetrius Porter didn't miss his chance for a game-winning shot.
Porter hit a 12-foot turnaround jumper with 5.6 seconds remaining as Fresno State rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat No. 13 Tulsa 75-73 Saturday night.
"This is something I've always wanted to do, to make a shot like this," said Porter, who found an opening after taking a pass from Courtney Alexander. "I saw Courtney pick up his dribble and I knew it was coming to me because he has done that before."
Greg Harrington's long jumper as time expired hit the rim and bounced away, and Tulsa's 13-game winning streak was over.
"We had control of the game and just had some bad turnovers and that allowed them to get some momentum," Tulsa coach Bill Self said. "We can't afford those kinds of mistakes."
Alexander scored 28 points to lead Fresno State (14-7, 4-1 WAC), which won its eighth straight at home. Melvin Ely added 16 points.
Larry Abney had 11 points and led the way on the boards, grabbing a career-high 24 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive end. He was a big part of Fresno State's 49-30 rebounding advantage.
"Abney was the player of the game. He almost outrebounded our entire team," Self said. "We are not a very big team and when we get outhustled, we are in trouble. They beat us to most of the loose balls in the second half."
Brandon Kurtz had 17 points and David Shelton 15 for Tulsa (20-2, 5-1), which lost for the first time since a 69-60 defeat at Oral Roberts on Dec. 11.
"This is a great win because it was a game we had to have to stay in the (conference) race," Fresno State coach Jerry Tarkanian said. "But all it does is keep us in the race."
Trailing by nine at the break and down 58-44 after Dante Swanson's layup with 13:37 left, the Bulldogs put together an 18-3 run, going in front 62-61 when Terrance Roberson grabbed an offensive rebound and put back a short jumper in the lane.
Roberson began the flurry by converting a three-point play and Alexander and Porter each hit 3-pointers to help keep it going.
The Golden Hurricane regained the lead when Kurtz made a baseline jumper before the Bulldogs took it back on successive baskets by Ely.
With 1:54 remaining, Roberson connected on a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs in front 73-67.
Two free throws by Shelton and a driving layup by Harrington sandwiched around Alexander's miss on the front end of a 1-and-1 tied it 73-all with 30.6 seconds left.
After a timeout, the Bulldogs inbounded the ball to Alexander but he couldn't shake Tulsa's defense and passed to Porter, who then drove into the open, spun and hit the go-ahead shot.
"In that situation, we wanted to get the ball to Courtney and then spread out and let him drive and either shoot or dish it off but I think he was a little tired and fortunately he found Porter," Tarkanian said.
Kurtz had 12 points in the first half, when Tulsa took a 42-33 lead.
The Bulldogs missed all five of their 3-point tries in the period while Kurtz, just 1-of-9 from beyond the arc entering the game, made his first two 3-point tries.
Fresno State kept it close early, pulling to 28-25 on a reverse layup by Alexander.
Kurtz shook free inside for a dunk and added a 3-pointer and layup as part of a 9-2 burst that carried the Hurricane to a 37-27 lead.
