Hurricane Swanson wrecks Mustangs
If SMU questioned whether or not they had an achilles’ heel, Tulsa left no doubts. The Golden Hurricane ruptured SMU’s porous three-point defense. The Mustangs were not able to fend off a late Tulsa rally and the Hurricane won a 77-70 match-up last night at Moody Coliseum.
The first half was close throughout. Sophomore forward Patrick Simpson shouldered the Mustangs the entire half. Simpson scored 17 points in the opening session.
Simpson’s production helped offset unimpressive performances from SMU’s scoring backcourt of senior Quinton Ross and freshman Bryan Hopkins. The two combined to shoot 1-10 from the field in the first half.
“They’re getting a lot of attention,” head coach Mike Dement said. Dement knew that someone would have to step up because Ross and Hopkins are becoming every opponent’s focus.
Simpson’s play led to a 31-25 lead in the first half, but Tulsa closed the period with an 8-0 run and led 33-31 at the half.
The Mustangs led most of the second half. Tulsa was down 65-60 with less than five minutes to play when they went on the game-deciding 17-5 scamper.
Finally, with under a minute left to play, and the game tied at 68, Tulsa guard Dante Swanson nailed the last of his five three-pointers.
Simpson countered with two free throws to cut the lead to 71-70. The two foul shots gave 23 him points for the game and he added 11 rebounds. After Swanson made two free throws, SMU center Eric Castro shot a three with less than 10 seconds to play. The shot fell short. Neither Castro nor Dement was uneasy with the center attempting the long-range shot.
“I was feeling strong through the course of the game, but I guess I didn’t have it in me,” Castro said. “It was a good shot, I just missed it.”
“Eric has hit a big three-point shot in every game we’ve won,” Dement said. “I was comfortable with him taking that shot.”
While SMU’s three came up short, Tulsa had no problem connecting from downtown. The Golden Hurricane made 13-23 from behind the arc.
“Our defense of the three-point shot was more hurtful than the three-point shots that we missed,” Dement said. “The three-point shot continues to be a major problem for us. We’ll have to keep emphasizing it.”
Much of the problem came from Swanson.
“Swanson took over at the end and hit shots deep. I thought we were there on a couple of them, and a couple of them we weren’t there,” Dement said. “He seemed to hit each one.”
SMU hopes to solve it’s three-point deficiencies before Rice visits Dallas Saturday. Rice is statistically at the top of the WAC in offensive production, including three-point shooting percentage.
Hurricane Swanson wrecks Mustangs
