Dec. 22, 2007

Box Score

Tulane-St. John's Box Score

HONOLULU - Tulane sophomore Kevin Sims and junior Robinson Louisme each scored 21 points and the Green Wave blew open the game with a 16-4 run in the second half to dispatch St. John's, 79-71, in the consolation title game of the 2007 Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Tulane (8-4) trailed St. John's (5-4) 52-50 when senior David Gomez, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, fouled out of the game with 8:16 remaining. Following two free throws by SJU's Rob Thomas, the Red Storm led by four points when Sims spotted up for a three-pointer from the right side and missed the shot. However, Lawrence Eugene fouled Sims on the attempt and unknowingly changed the momentum of the game.

Sims calmly sank all three attempts, which not only tied the game but gave the Green Wave a one-point lead, and more importantly ignited a 16-4 run that put Tulane up by 10 points, 66-56, with 2:22 remaining in the contest. TU then built a double figure lead for the majority of the final minute and half. St. John's managed to slice the lead to seven points with 0:39 remaining but never got any closer.

"After the Georgia game, we talked about doing whatever it took to win this basketball game," Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson said. "To win the Georgia game, we had to go inside and let our big guys go to work: David Gomez, Robinson Louisme and Donnavan Stith. Today, we had to make free throws and not turn the ball over in the second half. We had 12 turnovers in the first half and were steady in the second half.

"I've very, very proud of our team and the way we handled ourselves and got better from game one to game three. I think it's very tremendous for our program to come to a national tournament like the Rainbow Classic and come away with victories over teams from the Southeastern Conference and Big East Conference."

During the final 10 minutes of the game it wasn't just the Green Wave's offense that came alive. The Tulane defense not only stifled the St. John's offense during the run, it held the Red Storm to without a field goal for nearly eight minutes in the second half. D.J. Kennedy drilled a three-pointer to give the Storm a 52-46 lead at 9:37, but St. John's next field goal didn't come until Paris Horne hit a short jumper with 1:52 left in the game.

Sims hit 4-of-8 field goal attempts, including 2-of-3 three-point tries, but more importantly connected on 11-of-15 free throw attempts. Louisme was unstoppable on both ends of the floor, hitting 8-of-9 field goal attempts and 5-of-6 free throws on offense, and collected a game-high eight rebounds on the defensive end .

For the second straight game, Tulane was on fire offensively, hitting on 58 percent of its field goal attempts in each half, and finished 44.4 percent from behind the arc, and 79.4 percent from the foul line. Tulane also controlled the boards, 33-32.

Anthony Mason Jr., led the Red Storm with 18 points, while Sean Evans added 11 points. St. John's shot 50 percent in the opening half, but managed just nine field goals and finished 25.7 percent in the second half.

The first half was a back-and-forth battle complete with runs, lead changes and an abundance of physical play, which resulted in two fouls on Gomez, Wheaton and Puckett, and three of TU's five starters were forced into spectator roles on the bench. Both squads shot better than 50 percent in the opening period, including Tulane with a 61.9 field goal percentage.

St. John's scored the first four points of the game before Tulane reeled off 11 straight points to take a 11-4 lead. One of the key plays on run was an alley oop dunk from Sims to Stith who crushed the pass with a thunderous two-hand dunk. The Red Storm quickly responded behind Mason Jr., who scored five straight points, and brought his team to within two points on 7-2 run.

From there, the two teams traded baskets but the Green Wave was able to stay ahead of St. John's and maintain its lead. However, the Red Storm finally retook the lead on a Justin Burrell lay-up to make the score, 25-24. The two teams then traded the lead four more times before the Red Storm continued to take advantage of TU's 11 first half turnovers and gained control late using a 9-4 run to close out the half. Thomas punctuated the run with a three-pointer in front of the Tulane bench at the buzzer to give SJU a 38-32 advantage at intermission.