Nov. 20, 2009

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Clutch shooting, made free throws and key rebounds down the stretch led the Tulane Green Wave to a 63-60 victory over Penn State Friday afternoon in the second day of the Charleston Classic held at Carolina First Arena on the campus of the College of Charleston.

"This is the first time all year that we have played 40 minutes," Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson said. "We have been trying to preach that to our team to play two solid halves of basketball. We did not have to play perfect, we just needed to play back to back good halves and we did that."

Kevin Sims, who had not made a field goal this season entering the game, knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 0:21 left to give the Green Wave (1-2) a 62-58 lead. David Booker then grabbed a big rebound on Penn State's (2-2) Chris Babbs' missed 3-pointer with 0:10 left. Booker, who was fouled on the rebound, proceeded to hit one of two from the free throw line to put Tulane up 63-58. PSU's Jeff Brooks knocked in a jumper at the buzzer to make the final score 63-60.

Sims finished the game with 11 points, including a perfect six for six from the free throw line. The senior connected on a pair of free throws with 1:06 left that gave Tulane a 57-56 lead, one they would not relinquish.

"Kevin Sims really came through for us," Dickerson added. "He was 0 for whatever going into the game and made that one big three that really put us where we needed to be in a good place."

Overall Tulane was 21-26 from the line and hit five of six in the final three minutes of the game.

Booker had a team-high eight boards to go with six points.

Tulane had as much as a nine point lead in the second half. The Green Wave led 48-39 with 8:00 left after Sims hit two free throws. Penn State then rattled off a 10-1 run capped by a 3-pointer by Talor Battle that tied the score at 49-49 with 4:08 left.

The Green Wave then built a 55-52 lead on a Kris Richard jumper. A Jeff Brooks jump shot and a pair of Battle free throws put Penn State back up by one before Sims free throws with 1:06 on the clock.

Overall the game saw 13 lead changes and 11 ties. The largest lead either team had in the first half was an 18-13 Tulane lead at the 8:21 mark. PSU held a 25-24 lead at the break.

Aaron Holmes led Tulane with 17 points, including 11 in the second half. Richard finished with 14 points and Sims had 11.

The game was a defensive struggle with neither team shooting over 36 percent from the field. Tulane connected on 17-48 shots for 35.4 percent, while Penn State hit 17-55 shots for 30.9 percent. Both teams did shoot well from the line with Tulane hitting 21 of 26 (80.8 percent) and PSU knocking down 22-25 for 88.0 percent.

"Our ability to make free throws and most importantly be able to get to the line was very important," Dickerson said. "Penn State is a very good team. A very physical team and our guys really hung in there and made good plays and our good plays today were getting to the free throw line and making free throws."

Tulane also collected seven steals and scored 22 points off of 12 PSU turnovers.

Battle and Brooks led Penn State with 15 points each, while Andrew Jones grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. PSU won the rebound battle, 40-33.

The Green Wave will now face LaSalle on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. CST from the Carolina First Arena.