Tigers bounced from tourney by Colorado State
Memphis' Championship season ends in First Round of NCAA play
From the University of Memphis
GoTigersGo.com
SEATTLE – The magical season for No. 5 Memphis men's basketball came to an end Friday afternoon with a firstround exit in the NCAA Tournament after No. 12 seed Colorado State took a 78-70 victory inside Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington.
The Tigers end their season at 29-6 overall with two championships – the American Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles.
The 29 victories are their most wins under AAC Coach of the Year, Penny Hardaway.
To no surprise, the Tigers were led by senior forward Dain Dainja, who recorded his ninth double-double of the year. The big man scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds with three blocks and
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three steals. He paced the team in all four statistical categories.
Sophomore guard and AAC Player of the Year PJ Haggerty struggled finding his rhythm, but still finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three dimes.
Senior guard Colby Rogers added 18 points and knocked down a teamhigh four three-pointers in 36 minutes, despite injuring his left foot in the first half.
Memphis couldn't find much consistency in the first 20 minutes but was able to force three-consecutive Ram turnovers to six minutes in to reel off an 80 run. With Colorado State holding a 28-25 lead with five minutes on the clock, Memphis closed the half on an 11-3 run to take a 36-31 lead into the break.
Baraka Okojie stole the inbounds pass and took it the distance for a lay-in to open the second half and give the Tigers their biggest lead of the game, but less than seven minutes into the half, Colorado State had turned things around with a 23-10 run.
The Rams stretched their lead to double figures for the first time at 64-54 with 8:38 to play following the sixth 3-pointer of the afternoon from Kyan Evans, who finished with a career- best 23 points.
Memphis could never get any closer than six points the rest of the way as Colorado State survived to advance to Sunday's second round.
Haggerty broke the AAC's single-season points record in the loss, surpassing former Tiger Kendric Davis.
He closed the year with 759 total points, three points shy of Dejuan Wagner's school record.
Memphis was outscored 47-34 in the second half after shooting just 34.5 percent after halftime (10of-29).
The Tigers outrebounded the Rams, 41-34, and grabbed 16 on the offensive end, resulting in 17 second-chance points.
They also outscored CSU 32-22 in the paint.
Evans led the Rams with 23 points, while Nique Clifford added 14 points, eight rebounds and six dimes.
Memphis is now 35-29 alltime in the NCAA Tournament in their 29 appearances.
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