National Basketball Association
Southern Methodist 69, Memphis 62
When: 7:00 PM ET, Thursday, February 25, 2016
Where: FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee
Officials:
# Joe DeRosa, # John Higgins, # Brian O'Connell
Attendance:
13546
By The Sports Xchange
MEMPHIS -- SMU guard Nic Moore did not have his best game Thursday night, but he came up big when it mattered most, hitting a runner with 38 seconds left to help secure a 69-62 win over Memphis.
The No. 24 Mustangs (23-5, 11-4) are now tied with Temple for the first place in the American Athletic Conference despite trudging through a sloppy game by both teams.
SMU and Memphis (15-13, 6-9) combined for 31 turnovers (16 by SMU) and neither team could hit free throws -- SMU was 11 of 22 from the line and Memphis 13 of 22.
Neither team could get much traction, resulting in 19 lead changes.
Memphis had its last lead at 57-56, but the Tigers stayed close until Moore scored on his drive for a 65-62 lead. Guard Sterling Brown, who led SMU with 14 points, then hit two free throws with 13 seconds left for a 67-62 lead.
Moore and forward Markus Kennedy both scored 12 points, but Moore was scoreless until hitting a 3-pointer with 12:19 to go. Moore, who missed time in the first half with foul trouble, had six assists and three turnovers.
"We just had to fight," Kennedy said. "They had a box and-one on Nic, mostly all game. We had to work without our best player for most of the game, until the last four or five minutes when he started getting to the free throw line and started getting a couple of shots up."
Memphis was led by forward Dedric Lawson with 18 points and guard Ricky Tarrant Jr. with 15.
SMU, coming off a win Sunday over East Carolina, won its first back-to-back games since having its 18-game winning streak to start the season snapped.
The Mustangs are ineligible for postseason play because of NCAA violations but are seeking to capture back-to-back American Conference regular-season titles. They have three games remaining: home games against Tulane and Connecticut and then on the road at Cincinnati.
Memphis came close to derailing SMU at FedEx Forum, but the Tigers could not make a field goal in the final 2:53.
"You know how tough it is in road games, especially in this conference," Kennedy said. "There's no easy wins on the road, every game is hard. Especially these last five games for us, putting a lot of emphasis on trying to win the conference and win out."
SMU held a 31-30 lead at halftime despite Moore missing a significant chunk of time with foul trouble.
Moore, last season's conference player of the year, picked up his second foul with 13:16 left in the first half. However, SMU then went on an 8-0 run with Moore on the bench to claim a 15-12 lead.
SMU's lead swelled to 27-21 before Memphis went on a 9-2 run to go up by one, 30-29, with 1:39 left in the half.
SMU guard Jarrey Foster converted an alley-oop basket with 25 seconds left to reclaim the lead.
Tarrant scored 12 of his points in the first half, getting five of them at the free throw line as the Tigers shot just 35 percent (9 of 26) in the opening half. SMU shot 44 percent and benefited from nine Memphis turnovers.
Brown and Memphis forward Nick Marshall were each assessed a technical foul late in the half. The two had words after brushing against each other during a timeout.
NOTES: SMU G Jonathan Wilfong, a junior walk-on from Memphis, made his first career start. Wilfong's father, grandfather and great uncle played for Memphis. ...Memphis F Dedric Lawson entered the game with a streak of five consecutive double-doubles, the third-longest streak by a Tigers freshman in school history. He saw his streak snapped Thursday when he finished with four rebounds... SMU is ranked in the AP Top 25 for the 14th straight week, the third-longest streak in program history. The Mustangs have been ranked as high as No. 8 this season. ... The Memphis combo of F Shaq Goodwin (8.2 rebounds per game) and Dedric Lawson (9.3 per game) lead the American Athletic Conference and rank sixth in the country among rebounding duos. ...SMU won the teams' first meeting this season 80-68 on Jan. 30 in Dallas.
Top Game Performances
| Southern Methodist |
|
Memphis |
|
Sterling Brown 14 |
Scoring |
Dedric Lawson 18 |
|
Nic Moore 6 |
Assists |
Ricky Tarrant 7 |
|
Markus Kennedy 8 |
Rebounds |
Nick Marshall 7 |
|
Sterling Brown 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Ricky Tarrant 6 |
|
Nic Moore 6 |
Steals |
Shaq Goodwin 4 |
|
Ben Moore 2 |
Blocks |
Dedric Lawson 4 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Southern Methodist
|
69 |
49.1 |
4-10 |
11-22 |
17 |
34 |
5 |
12 |
16 |
| Memphis
|
62 |
38.9 |
7-23 |
13-22 |
15 |
23 |
8 |
13 |
15 |
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