Tigers hold off Tulane comeback

Tigers hold off Tulane comeback

Memphis withstands late rally from the Green Wave

From UofM Sports

gotigersgo.com NEW ORLEANS – The University of Memphis won its first American Athletic Conference road game Sunday at Fogelman Arena, but the Tigers had to outlast a determined, late-game comeback try by Tulane.

What once was an 18-point Memphis advantage dwindled to two points in the closing minutes, before the Tigers escaped with an 83-79 victory.

Jeremiah Martin led the UofM (11-6, 3-1 The American) with a season- high 27 points and Kyvon Davenport added 17. Raynere Thornton scored 12.

Martin’s clutch play in the final three minutes, including two free throws with 13 seconds, helped seal the win.

“We stayed together and we got the win,” Martin said.

Tigers coach Penny Hardaway, while not happy with the way the UofM lost a double-digit lead, was pleased with the road win “It was a big game for us,” Hardaway said. “I knew this was a game we could get on the road, but I wasn’t overconfident. I knew Tulane wouldn’t go down easy.”

The Tigers built an 18-point lead early in the second half at 54-36 following a Davenport three-point play, but Tulane (4-12,0-4 The American) refused to fold.

Behind Kevin Zhang, who finished with 25 points, the Green Wave trimmed the Memphis lead to 10 on several occasions early in the half before making a run that nearly erased the Tigers’ advantage.

A Kareem Brewton Jr.

floater in the lane increased the UofM lead to 14(7157) midway through the half, but Tulane made another run in the closing minutes. Blake Paul scored on a 17-footer and Caleb Daniels followed with a putback to make it 74-68 with 4:10 left.

A Jordan Cornish layup with 2:48 to go allowed the Green Wav to cut it to two, before the Tigers recovered.

In the first half, the Tigers shot 51.5 percent and made 6 of 13 from beyond the arc to grab a 49-34 advantage.

Martin had 21 of his points at the half by connecting on 8 of 10 field goals, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range. The 21 points were one shy of his season high.

Tulane stayed close for most of the half by dominating on the boards.

The Green Wave had 27 rebounds at the half, eight more than the Tigers.

When Tulane trimmed what had been a 13-point UofM lead to five points (37-32) late in the first half, Martin went on a personal scoring run. He dropped in eight straight (two 3-pointers and a driving layup) and followed by assisting on a Tyler Harris layup for a 47-34 lead.

The Tigers limited Tulane to 31.4 percent shooting in the opening half, including 1 -of-11 from 3-point range. Memphis returns home Saturday to play host to SMU in a conference game that tips off at 3 p.m. at FedExForum.

Game Notes:

• Tigers sophomore forward Victor Enoh made his first career start, moving into the lineup in place of Mike Parks Jr. Enoh got his first start playing in his 42nd career game.

• Memphis entered the game averaging 17.9 turnovers forced, a figure that ranked 10th nationally. The Tigers forced 11 turnovers against Tulane.

• Tigers guard Jeremiah Martin had 21 first-half points, the most in a half for him since scoring 20 in the second half of a win over Tulane at home Jan. 9, 2018. He finished with 27

• With those 27 points, Martin moved from a tie for 34th on the program’s career-scoring list with 1,147 points to 30th with 1,174 points, three points ahead of Vincent Askew.

Askew played from 198587.

The Memphis Tigers held off a late challenge from Tulane to win their American Athletic Conference opener.

Photo courtesy of gotigersgo.com