The visiting Green Wave struggled some on both sides of the ball but managed to capitalize on an equally-tough day for UAB.
Most of the time, 55 points is not enough to win a college basketball game.
However, the Tulane Green Wave held on in the face of adversity to take down the UAB Blazers by a score of 55-54 on Sunday. It marked the second-consecutive victory for Tulane and helped the team get one step closer to a higher seed in the upcoming American Conference Tournament.
The Green Wave managed to build up a double-digit lead through the first half, but the home team slowly got back into the game throughout the second half. Things got even more interesting with just under five minutes remaining: Curtis Williams Jr. hit a big three to put Tulane up 55-52. From there, neither team scored... for the next four minutes. Call it a defensive masterclass or an offensive collapse, either way, it wasn't pretty. UAB managed to hit a layup with just one second left, but by then, the game was over.
Rowan Brumbaugh marked a major milestone in his career during the matchup, becoming the 40th player in program history to record 1,000 points for the Olive Green and Sky Blue. He finished the night with a team-high 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Asher Woods followed up Brumbaugh's strong showing with 14 points of his own, to go along with five boards and three assists. Scotty Middleton had one of the best performances off the bench that the team has seen so far this year with 12 points and a team-best nine rebounds. Aside from these players, no other student-athlete scored more than six points for the Green Wave, as the team shot just 36.2-percent from the field and 28.6-percent from three.
Luckily for Tulane, the Blazers had it far worse. The opposing team made just 31.7-percent of its field goal attempts and shot a lowly 14.8-percent form the three-point line. The team was able to keep things a big closer thanks to 14 offensive rebounds to the Green Wave's seven.
Defensively, Tulane had a much better showing on the boards with 27 defensive rebounds; UAB was just ahead of that mark with 30 defensive rebounds. The team continued to assert dominance in the paint with six total blocks and had five total steals.
While the game wasn't great for the Green Wave, a win's a win. The boys from Uptown will look to keep the momentum rolling as they face the North Texas Mean Green on Thursday night. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. CT from UNT Coliseum.