The SMU men’s basketball team will have to wait another year to try again to end their regular season woes against Tulsa. The Mustangs’ losing streak to the Golden Hurricane grew to 10 games in a 58-55 defeat last night after Derek Williams’ game-tying three bounced hard off the backboard with 0.2 seconds remaining.
 

After Ben Uzoh’s open three-pointer with 2:19 remaining gave  Tulsa (21-9, 10-5) a nine-point lead at 56-47, the Hurricane looked poised to cruise to an easy victory before SMU (14-15, 7-8) rolled off a quick 8-0 run that included two Mouhammad Faye three-point baskets.
 

The Mustangs had an opportunity to take the lead with 30 seconds left after TU center Jerome Jordan missed the first free throw in a 1-and-1 situation.  However, Williams wasn’t able to finish a layup over the seven-foot-tall Jordan.
 

Williams led the Mustangs with 15 points and four assists and was helped very little by his teammates in the first 29 minutes of the game.  The dynamic changed, however, when with 11 minutes left, Williams badly turned his ankle while driving on Tulsa’s Steven Idlet.  He only sat out for a minute and a half but was noticeably hampered by the hurt ankle for the rest of the game, and ended up only connecting on seven of his 21 field goal attempts.  
 

The offense was sustained by Faye and Robert Nyakundi, who both scored 13 points and hit 3-threes a piece in the second half.  Faye also added eight rebounds while Papa Dia, following a career-high 31 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday’s game against Houston, was kept quiet thanks to Jordan’s immense presence and early foul trouble.  He finished with seven points, six rebounds and six turnovers.
 

It was TU’s senior night, and stars Uzoh and Jordan, along with fellow senior Bishop Wheatley, did not disappoint in their final home game.  Uzoh finished with 20 points, and was the only consistent source of offense for the Golden Hurricane throughout the night.

Despite being held scoreless for the first 18 minutes of the game, Jordan finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks.
 

The two teams were tied at 24 after a first half that saw poor shooting for both teams and a total of 22 fouls called.  SMU and Tulsa both struggled at the FT line, shooting 60 and 58.8 percent respectively.  
 

The loss dropped SMU into a three-way tie for No. 6 place in Conference USA with only one conference game remaining.