MOBILE, Ala. – Making their first true road appearance of the season, the Tulane men’s basketball team suffered an 81-60 road defeat at South Alabama in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon.
Caleb Daniels led Tulane (3-6) with 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting with eight rebounds in his third 20-point scoring performance of the season. Buay Koka shot a perfect 5-for-5 for a career-high 11 points to go with a pair of blocks off the bench, as Jordan Cornish chipped in 10 points with a team-high four assists.
Rodrick Sikes paced South Alabama (5-5) with 21 points, as Josh Ajayi compiled a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. The Jaguars shot over 53 percent overall and made 11 3-pointers, while the Green Wave shot nearly 47 percent from the floor, but just 20 percent from beyond the arc.
South Alabama owned a 38-28 scoring advantage in the paint, 16-8 on fast breaks, 12-5 on second chances and 20-15 off turnovers.
Daniels scored the first eight and 14 of Tulane’s first 16 points of the second half, but South Alabama was able to increase their lead to over 20 points early in the period and again inside the final five minutes. The Wave fell behind by as many as 23 with 3:40 remaining.
In the first half, the Jaguars built their lead to double-digits for the first time, 28-18, with just over nine minutes remaining. widened the margin to 17 on their final shot of the first half before taking a 47-30 advantage into the locker room.
The Green Wave shot 10-for-23 (.423) in the opening 20 minutes, while South Alabama went 17-for-32 (.531) from the floor and held a 12-0 scoring edge on fast breaks. The Jaguars also made six 3-pointers to the Wave’s two.
Tulane will use a nine-day break for final exams before returning to action on Monday, December 17 to host Texas Southern. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CST) at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse and the game will be broadcast on the WatchESPN app.
Article courtesy Tulane Sports Information Department
