The Tulane Green Wave took an important road win from the UAB Blazers Saturday by the score of 76-74, in the Conference-USA regular season finale for both teams before a crowd of 4,438 at Bartow Arena in Birmingham Saturday afternoon.
The game, which featured eleven lead changes and fifteen ties, was finally won for Tulane when
guard Matt Wheaton nailed a a three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining off an assist from Kevin Sims, to put Tulane ahead by two. That shot was Wheaton's only three-point attempt of the day.
The Blazers attempted two shots in the final seconds but failed to connect.
Tulane won it's third straight game, and the Green Wave's record rises to 16-12 overall, and 9-7 in C-USA action. UAB falls to 15-15 overall, and 7-9 in C-USA, as the Blazers dropped their second straight game.
With the victory, the Green Wave snagged the fourth seed and a first-round bye in the Conference USA post-season tournament, which is set to begin Wednesday.
Tulane was led by senior Chris Moore, who scored a game-high 20 points on 7-of-14 shots
from the field, and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Moore hit on only 2-of-8 attempts from
three-point range but grabbed 5 rebounds.
David Gomez scored 14 points before fouling out in the games's final minutes, and senior
Andrew Garcia added 10 points. Wheaton scored 9 points, but was perfect from the floor, making
his only three attempts, including the game-winning trey.
UAB was guided by Lawrence Kinnard, who scored a team-high 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor. Frank Holmes was the only other Blazer in double figures, scoring 15 points.
Tulane connected on 53.8 percent of their shiots from the floor in the first half, and 52.9 percent from the field for the game.
But both teams shot poorly from beyond the arc in the first half, with the Wave going 0-for-4,
and the Blazers making 1-of-9. As a result the game was tied at 33 at halftime.
The Blazers went to the line 29 times in the second half, but a 55.2 percent second half free throw shooting percentage was the difference in victory and defeat for UAB. In the final half, UAB connected on only 16-of 29-attempts. The Blazers had made only 4-of-10 first half free throw attempts.
The win ensures Tulane coach Dave Dickerson of a winning season in only his second year as Green Wave head man.
Tulane will be in action again Thursday at 8.p., when they face the winner of Wednesday's East Carolina - Tulsa first-round matchup in the Conference USA Tournament in Memphis.