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Marcus Williams was down interstate and Malik Hairston was in street clothes, but the Toros beat the Vipers 106-105 last night. Ridiculous Upside was there and provide a nice recap.

With the victory, the Toros tied their franchise record for wins. Their last home game is Friday, which is the second of three against Rio Grande Valley to close the season. In other words, even if they split the back-to-back home-away, this will have been the Toros’ most successful season yet. Three cheers.

Last night’s one-pointer was a barn burner. The Toros squandered a 15 point 4th quarter lead before winning on the strength of a DeMarcus Nelson free throw with 14.9 remaining. Nelson, once again, was impressive. He finished the game with 30 points and 10 boards on 11-19 shooting, but he’s still a prospect. Jon L. of RU registers the following report:

DeMarcus Nelson played off the ball for most of the game, except when it came down to the end, when he took control. He took and hit a fair amount of outside shots early on, which makes the Tulsa game seem more like a fluke. He’s definitely a good finisher at the rim, but he needs to work on his point guard skills. He didn’t always make the best decisions with the ball (seven turnovers overall to six assists), and even on plays where, for example, it led to a made three, dribbling away from screens isn’t something you should make a habit of doing. He also passed the ball to where Jamaal Thomas was on one play, instead of leading him, and when Thomas cut to the basket the ball ended up behind him, off his hands and out of bounds. His offensive game is pretty well developed, but if he’s going to have the ball in his hands as much as he does, he needs to cut down on the turnovers.