Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Both scenarios became a real possibility Friday night after TCU, suddenly a team on a hot streak, upset Tulsa 64-59 to move into the final of the WAC tournament.
"If we win tomorrow night we're there. That's the only way I know we're in for sure," TCU coach Billy Tubbs said. "Nobody's even been talking about us as a bubble team. If we win, they can't deny us."
The Horned Frogs, who were only 7-9 in conference play and lost by 44 points at home to Tulsa just last week, built up a nine point second half lead and held on to win their third straight tournament game.
"If they're going to take anybody from the WAC it might as well be us because we're hot right now," Tubbs said.
Prince Fowler made two free throws with 15 seconds left as TCU escaped with the win to advance to Saturday's final against either No. 3 Utah or No. 14 New Mexico.
Tulsa (23-9), meanwhile, will have to await its fate at the hand of the NCAA selection committee after a game in which it shot only 31 percent.
"We had the opportunity to settle that issue for ourselves by competing for the championship but since we didn't do that we have to lead it up to the selection committee," Tulsa coach Steven Robinson said.
Fowler's free throws gave TCU a 62-59 lead and, after a 3-pointer by Shea Seals that would have tied the game missed, Tulsa fouled Mike Jones with 1.4 seconds left. Jones made both for the final margin.
TCU (21-11) led most of a mistake-prone first half but was down 43-37 after Shea Seals made a 3-pointer with 15 minutes left in the game.
The Horned Frogs then scored the next 15 points of the game to take a 52-43 lead on a basket by Malcolm Johnson with 9:30 to go.
Tulsa came back, pulling to within 60-59 on a 3-pointer by Jonnie Gendron with 38.7 seconds left. But Fowler was fouled by Rod Thompson with 15 seconds left and made both and Seals missed his 22-foot attempt to tie the game.
Johnson led TCU with 28 points, while Damion Walker had 15 points and 18 rebounds. Jones, who had a tournament record 44 points against Fresno State on Thursday, had 10 points.
"When we came out I was ready to play," said Johnson, who had 17 of his team's first 25 points.
Seals led Tulsa with 20 points while Gendron had 14.
With Johnson scoring nearly at will, TCU used an 18-5 run early in the first half to take its biggest lead, 25-13, with 11:37 left in the half. Johnson scored 17 of TCU's first 25 points, including a 3-pointer that gave the Horned Frogs the 12-point lead.
But as hot as Johnson was, TCU suddenly went just as cold. After scoring 25 points in the first 8:23 of the game, TCU could score only six points the remaining 11:37 of the half.
Tulsa wasn't much better, but used an 8-0 run to cut the margin to 25-21 midway through the half. With the two teams turning the ball over, getting called for charges and missing shot after shot inside, Tulsa managed only seven points the last 9:30 of the half, while TCU scored just six.
In one stretch, both teams went more than four and a half minutes without scoring before Seals hit a long 3-pointer with 2:05 left in the half.
"It was kind of any ugly game but we'll take it," Tubbs said.
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