UConn beats Tulane 67-61 for season’s first conference win

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Tyler Polley had 19 points and a career high 11 rebounds to lead UConn to a 67-61 win over Tulane Wednesday night, giving the Huskies their first conference win this season.

Christian Vital (14 points), Alterique Gilbert (11) and Josh Carlton (10), also reached double figures for the Huskies (10-5, 1-2 American), who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Connecticut dominated underneath, outrebounding Tulane 46-29 and scoring 19 second-chance points.

Teshaun Hightower had 17 points and K.J. Lawson added 16 for Tulane, which has lost four of its last five games.

UConn led by seven points at halftime and began the second half with a 10-4 run to give the Huskies their largest lead of the game at 46-33.

Tulane cut the deficit back to three with a run capped by a layup from Hightower, but the Green Wave never led in the second half.

An offensive rebound and three-point play from Polley with just under three minutes to play pushed the lead back to 63-54.

Polley, who was just a point shy of his career high in scoring, hit seven of his 15 shots from the floor and pulled down six offensive boards.

UConn came out pressing and scored the first five points of the game. Tulane responded with a 7-0 run.

Carlton, who was 2 of 10 from the floor in the Huskies first two conference games, hit his first four shots.

A long lob pass from A Gilbert to James Bouknight highlighted a 10-0 run that put the Huskies up 23-16 and a circus-shot driving layup from Gilbert sent the Huskies into halftime with a 36-29 lead.

Teshaun Hightower (12) and K.J. Lawson (10) had 22 of the Green Wave’s first-half points

BIG PICTURE

Tulane has never beaten UConn, losing the first seven games in the series by an average of just under 10 points a game.

UConn’s Polley, Gilbert and Carlton had each failed to reach double figures in the Huskies previous three games.

UP NEXT

Tulane finishes its two-game road trip on Saturday at Temple

UConn begins one of its tougher stretches this season by hosting No. 23 Wichita State on Sunday. The Huskies then travel to Philadelphia to play No. 16 Villanova before heading to Houston.

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