TULSA, Okla. -- Tulsa salvaged a season that once seemed ruined, earning its third trip to the NCAA Tournament in four seasons.
Dante Swanson scored 23 points and Kevin Johnson added 18 as Tulsa beat Nevada 75-64 Saturday night to win the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
A berth in the tournament seemed unlikely a month and half ago after Tulsa (22-9) lost three consecutive games, dropping its record to 11-7. But the Golden Hurricane have won 11 of 13 games since then.
"I never panicked during the season that this couldn't happen," Tulsa coach John Phillips said. "These guys have proven over the last four years that they're going to find a way to get it done."
Swanson scored 14 points in a 21-3 first-half run when Tulsa erased a nine-point Nevada lead and went up 35-26 with 2:23 left in the period. The Golden Hurricane, who lost the previous three championship games, never trailed again.
"I started off kind of shaky," Swanson said. "But I finally became coachable, listened to what Coach had to say and I just kept shooting and they started to fall."
When the game was over, fans rushed the floor chanting "NCAA! NCAA!"
Terrance Green led Nevada (18-13) with 16 points, and Kirk Snyder had 14. The Wolf Pack missed an opportunity to get their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1985.
"It was hard for us individually to get going," Snyder said. "We had to take our licking today. They came out as a team and collectively beat us."
The Golden Hurricane lost to Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year.
Johnson, the tournament MVP, scored two baskets from in close to start a 7-0 run early in the second half that expanded Tulsa's lead from four points to 13. His basket with 8:05 remaining gave the Golden Hurricane their biggest lead at 57-40.
"We're on a real high right now," Johnson said. "All those little nagging injuries you feel usually, all those are wiped away."
Jarius Glenn added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Tulsa, which was helped in this year's tournament by the absence of regular season champion Fresno State.
The Bulldogs were declared ineligible after disqualifying themselves from the NCAA and NIT tournaments because of academic fraud by former players.
"They deserve to be No. 1," Nevada coach Trent Johnson said of Tulsa. "For the last month and a half, they have been playing extremely good basketball."
Nevada led 23-14 midway through the first half after hitting five-3-pointers, two each by Green and Jerry Petty, during a 19-7 surge.
Tulsa, led by two 3s and two layups by Swanson, then took control with a 21-3 spurt spanning nearly seven minutes. Tulsa led 36-30 at the half.
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