Kareem Brewton Jr. hit's a floater triple at the buzzer to send Memphis to the AAC Semifinals3/9/2018
Written by Adrian Beecher
ORLANDO, Fla. - Kareem Brewton Jr. hit a floater triple at the buzzer to send Memphis to the Semifinals. Memphis and Tulsa battled back and forth throughout, with Tulsa overcoming multiple double-digit deficit's. Here's how it all went down in the AAC mens Basketball quarterfinals.
Tulsa would draw first blood as Corey Henderson Jr. scored on a jumper to get things going. Shortly after, Memphis struck back as Raynere Thornton hit a triple to give the Tigers their first lead of the game. Henderson Jr.'s next basket for the Hurricane would start a 9-2 run that would Tulsa up 11-5 with 13:39 left in the first half. Then things started to get a bit topsy-turvy for the fourth-seeded Golden Hurricane. Over the next eight minute and eight seconds, the bottom fell out of Tulsa's offense. Memphis went on an 18-3 run over that period to take a 23-14 lead. In the final five minutes, the script flipped as the bottom fell out of the Tigers offense. Memphis would only score 3 points in the final five minutes. This allowed Tulsa to cut it to a one-point deficit the as Golden Hurricane finished the game with an 11-3 run. As the teams headed to the locker room, Memphis held a 26-25 lead on the 4th seeded Hurricane. At the half, the scoring leader for Memphis was Jamal Johnson with nine points. For Tulsa it was Sterling Taplin leading the way with 9 points. The Tigers shot 47.4% from the field while holding Tulsa to just 29.6% from the field. Tusla continued their momentum from the first half, hitting the first basket of the second half as Corey Henderson Jr. hit a jumper. This gave the Hurricane the lead, which Memphis would immediately regain on the next possession off a layup from Mike Parks Jr. This was a start of a 12-2 run over the next five minutes that gave the Tigers a 38-29 lead with 15: 19 left in regulation. Slowly, but surely Memphis started to pull away. The Tiger lead grew to it's largest of the game with 11:07 left to play as Jamal Johnson hit a triple to make it 45-34. Despite the second half struggles, Tulsa was not going to go away quietly. Led by Corey Henderson Jr., the Hurricane went on a 13-2 run to tie the game up at 50 with 7:32 left in the game. On the run, Henderson Jr. made seven of the teams 12 points. Things heated up as the two teams traded punches fighting for their tournament lives. Memphis pulled back out to a four-point lead before Tulsa hit a basket and then Henderson Jr. hit a triple to put the Hurricance back on top 55-54 with 5:24 left to play. In a game of leapfrog, Memphis regained the lead at 60-59 with 1:52 left to play as Parks Jr. put in a layup. Then down on the other end of the floor, a foul would send Junior Etou to the line for two shots that he would sink one of to tie things up. On the rebound, Kareem Brewton Jr. secured the rebound but was fouled an sent to the line. He only hit one of two as well to regain the lead for Memphis at 61-60. Following the trend, Henderson Jr. hit just one of two as well on the other end to tie things up. However, the rebound was secured by Tulsa, and Henderson Jr. hit a jumper to give the Hurricane the lead. On the ensuing possession, Kyvon Davenport hit a triple and was fouled. The triple gave the lead back to Memphis at 64-63, but the missed shot was rebounded by Tulsa with under 30 seconds left to play. The Hurricane called a timeout to think it over. Out of the timeout, Martins Igbanu found his way to the free throw line with just 3.5 seconds left to play. On the first shot, Igbanu hit the front end of the basket. The second shot hit the bottom of the next to tie things up at 64. Memphis final possession saw Kareem Brewton Jr. take the inbound pass up the court. As he got just outside the three-point line, Brewton Jr. put up a floater that found the bottom of the basket to seal the game for the Tigers and move them onto the AAC Men's Basketball Tournament Semi-finals with a matchup against Cincinnati.
Writer - Adrian Beecher
ORLANDO, Fla. - Tulsa got on the board first. The Tigers, however, answered with a triple to take the lead. That would be their lone lead early as Tulsa took over early, going on a 9-2 run to take a with a 11-5 lead.
Then Memphis stormed back, taking a 15-13 lead over Tulsa as Jamal Johnson hit a triple for the Tigers with 10:43 left to play in the first half. Over the next 3 minutes, things slowed down quite a bit, with Memphis maintaining their lead at 16-13 as we reached the under eight-minute timeout. Out of the timeout, Memphis started to put some distance between then and Tulsa. After going on a 13-1 run, Memphis had a 23-14 lead over the Hurricane with 5:31 left to play. Then, after the Tigers extended their lead to 10, Tulsa got on a run of their own as they shut down the Memphis offense. The Hurricane would score the final 9 points of the first half to cut the deficit to just 1 point as the teams went into the locker room at the half. Scoring leader for Memphis was Jamal Johnson with nine points. For Tulsa it was Sterling Taplin leading the way with 9 points. The Tigers shot 47.4% from the field while holding Tulsa to just 29.6% from the field.
Written by Adrian Beecher
ORLANDO, Fla. - Top-seeded Cincinnati got all they bargained for against ninth-seeded SMU. The game included nine lead changes and wasn't settled until the final minutes of the game with the Bearcats advancing with a 61-51 win over SMU.
SMU started the game with a defensive stop and struck the iron first as Ben Emelogu II drained a triple. Excitement though would quickly turn to a scramble to slow things down as the Bearcats opened up an 8-0 run. Emelogu II would put an end to the run, as he put in a jumper. Three minutes later the Mustangs would get on a 7-0 run to regain the lead at 16-14 on a triple from William Douglas with 12:03 left in half. After trading baskets and exchanging lead, Cincinnati had extended their lead to the largest of the first half at 6, with only 5:25 left in half. They would be unable to pull away, however, as SMU battled back and cut the deficit to just 1 point as the teams went into the locker room at the half. Scoring leader at the half for Cincinnati was Kyle Washington with nine points. For the Mustangs, it was Emelogu II leading the way with nine as well. The Mustangs continued their pressure and would strike first in the second half as well, this time Jahmal McMurray put in a layup to give SMU the 29-28 lead. In fact, they would score the first two basket's of the second half before Cincy got things going with back to back buckets of their own to regain the lead at 32-31. On the ensuing possession for SMU, Akoy Agau hit a triple to give the Stangs a 34-32 lead. The would extend that lead to 6 points before Washington hit a bucket for Cincinnati. As the battle heated up, every bucket started to matter more. The Bearcats would once again put together an 8-0 run as the Mustangs struggled from the field. With 11:23 left to play, Cincinnati lead 42-38. The run was halted on a jumper from McMurray, then SMU goes a defensive stop and a basket to tie things up. However, the basket was called off due to a travel violation from Agau. The Bearcats would push their lead to four, taking advantage of the mistake. As we reached the under eight-minute timeout, the Bearcats had the 46-42 advantage on SMU. Out of the media timeout, the Mustangs pulled within one as McMurray hit a triple. However, then a bucket and a triple from Cincy would put the Bearcats lead up to six. The Mustangs continued to battle, but Cincy just kept slipping further and further away. first to 7 and then to 10 with just under four minutes to play as Gary Clark hit a three. As frustration started to build for SMU, their head coach Tim Jankovich was called for a technical foul for chirping in the referee's ear a little too much. Justin Jenifer hit the free throws for Cincinnati to make it a 12 point game with 2:48 left to play. That would all but ice this one over as the Mustangs scored just four points in the final 2:40 of the game. The Bearcats advance to the semifinals on Saturday with a matchup against the winner of the Tulsa vs Memphis quarterfinal.
Writer - Adrian Beecher
ORLANDO, Fla. - SMU struck first with a triple from Ben Emelogu II, Cincinnati then followed this up with an 8-0 run. A jumper from Emelogu would end the run, slowing things down a bit. As we reached the funder 16-minute media timeout, Cincinnati led 11-7.
A little later SMU would put together a run of their own in the form of a 7-0 run that was capped off by a triple from William Douglas. This gave the Mustangs the lead for the second time of the game. As things went back and forth, it was a tight one where neither team seemed to have the adavantage. As we reached the under eight-minute media timeout, things were all knotted up at 19. Out of the timeout, SMU struggled to score as the Bearcats took a quick six-point lead. The struggles didn't last long, however, as the Stangs trailed just 26-23 as we reached the under four-minute media timeout. The battle continued in the final four minutes of the first half, with both teams going blow for blow. As we reached the halfway point, the Bearcats had the slight 1 point advantage, leading 28-27. Scoring leader at the half for Cincinnati was Kyle Washington with nine points. For the Mustangs, it was Emelogu II leading the way with nine as well.
Written by Ernie Casanova
ORLANDO, FL— After a day full of basketball, the UCF Knights closed out the first round of the AAC Tournament with a matchup against the East Carolina Pirates. The Knights traveled a few miles across town ready to play and dominated the Pirates on every possession. After a great performance, UCF knocked of ECU by a score of 66-52 here at the Amway Center.
The Knights began the first half on a roll, scoring the first five points of the night and leading 5-0 in the first three minutes. After ECU’s Shawn Williams nailed a distant three-pointer to put the Pirates on the board, Knights forward A.J. Davis subsequently drained one of his own to keep the momentum afloat. Starting Knights guards B.J Taylor, and Davis led the team in scoring for the first ten minutes, as they were responsible for every one of the Knights’ points on the scoreboard. It wasn’t until a Dayon Griffin layup with just about 10 minutes left that the Knights had more than two players score a point. The first half was a breeze for the Knights. They shot 60% from the beyond the arc and held the Pirates scoreless for a span of seven minutes. It was 11-9 when the Knights started to go on an 11-0 run. with exactly six minutes left to play in the half, ECU finally put points on the board with a tip-in by starting forward Jabari Craig, but it was silence from their offense again after that. The Knights were firing from all over the place, shooting 47% from the field with B.J Taylor leading the team with 10 points. A.J Davis and Ceasar DeJesus sat behind him with six points as both contributed crowd roaring three-pointers. Dayon Griffin also had six points as the Knights were spreading the ball consistently. ECU really couldn’t get up to speed on offense, having seven turnovers and shooting 33% from the floor. Starting guard Shawn Williams was making all the moves for the Pirates as he led the team with 10 points. At the end of the half, UCF led ECU by a score of 36-25. The second half started off on the same pace as the Pirates didn’t have an answer for the hot shooting Knights. UCF quickly put points on the board with two consecutive shots and led ECU by 12 points at the 17-minute mark. After some back and forth during possessions, Griffin got open for the Knights and nailed a sensational three-point shot that seemed like it was from a mile away. The Knights were willing and able to attempt as many shots as possible, and contrary to previous games, they were connecting on the majority of them. The Pirates turned the ball over 10 times and received little to no help from their bench, but they wouldn’t go down without a fight. With 12 minutes left in regulation, ECU cut an early large deficit down to six points and trailed the Knights 46-40. After a layup by starting guard B.J Tyson brought their point total up to 42, ECU regained possession and Tyson again scored by nailing a three pointer to now cut the deficit to one point. Before we all knew it, ECU was now trailing UCF 46-45 after going a 13-0 run. The Knights were held scoreless for eight minutes, and it gave us a glimpse of what has held them back all year: finishing off strong. After letting ECU spark a comeback, UCF got their grove back and held it together for the last seven minutes of the game. After a strong start, Knights guard B.J Taylor finished the game with 17 points and four assists. A.J Davis ended up with 14 points shooting 4-11 from the floor, while Ceasar DeJesus and Dayon Griffin each finished with nine points. ECU’s Shawn Williams led the team with 17 points and six assists while B.J Tyson finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. UCF forced 17 turnovers while committing eight of their own, and shot over 40% from the floor and beyond the arc. It was truly a spectacular game won for the Knights as they now take on the Houston Cougars in the second round of the AAC Tournament on Friday night.
Writer Adrian Beecher
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Knights started the scoring, taking a 5-0 lead out of the gate off two free throws from Davis and triple from BJ Taylor. For the Pirates of ECU, it was Shawn Williams getting the scoring started with a triple. Then to Keep the triple party alive, Davis answered with a triple of his own for the Knights to make it 8-3 with 16:21 left in the half.
The game was very slow-moving early on with UCF dominating defensively, forcing five turnovers in the first eight minutes. With 11:31 left in the first half, the Knights lead 13-9. After the Pirates 9th point with just under 13 minutes left in half, they would go cold from the field, going on an on a 6-minute scoring drought. Meanwhile, UCF went on an 11-0 run over that period stretched the lead to 13 with 6:30 left on the clock. Jabari Craig would put an end to the cold streak for the Pirates on a tip-in with 6:05 left in the 1st. After nearly a minute of scoreless basketball from each team, ECU was able to cut the lead to 9 with 5:06 on the clock. The final five minutes of the first half saw a back and forth battle with not much fluctuation in score differential. With one second left on the clock, Ceasar DeJesus hit a triple to send UCF into the locker room with a 36-25 lead. Temple survives early deficit and late push from Tulane to advance to 2nd round of AAC Tourney3/8/2018
Written By Adrian Beecher
ORLANDO, Fla. - Game 3 of the American Men's Basketball tournament was a role coaster ride that saw each team with 9+ point leads, yet would come down to the final seconds to determine a winner. In the end, it was the Temple trifecta of Josh Brow, Obi Enechionyia, and Shizz Alston Jr., all combining for 51 of the Owls point in an 80-77 win over Tulane.
Tulane wasted no time getting rolling early, scoring the first six points of the game. The Owls of Temple wouldn't get on the board until the 3rd minute of the game on a free throw from Josh Brown. Tulane's up-tempo pace continued early as the Green Wave jumped out to a 13-4 lead with 16:04 left in the 1st half. After that, the speed of Tulane seemed to slow down quite a bit. Temple was turning the flow of the game, slowly but surely chipping away at the Green Wave lead. With 12:47 left in the first half, Quinton Rose put in a layup to make it a 3 point game with Tulane still on top. With the lead dwindling away, the Green Wave seemed to get a surge of new wind, sparking an 8-2 run to push their lead back to nine. Then as the script flipped, the Owls went on an 8-2 run of their own shortly after to make it just a 2-point game with 6 minutes left in half. The way the tempo was going, it only seemed like a matter of time before the Owls got their first lead. Then with 4:17 left on the clock, Josh Brown hit a triple to make it 30-28 as the Owls sat atop the perch for the first time of the night. As the first half drew to a close, the Owls went into the locker room with a 39-35 lead on Tulane. Things in the 2nd half couldn't have started much worse for the Green Wave as Temple pulled out to a 12 point lead after their first basket and back to back triples from Josh Brown and Shizz Alston Jr. This forced Tulane to call a timeout and regroup. It wouldn't prove completely effective as the Owls had extended their largest lead of the game to this point at 13 with 15:48 left to play. Though the fight in Tulane was not down, and over the next two minutes, they cut the deficit to just 6. After yet another 8-2 run from the Owls gave them another 13 point lead, it looked like they would start to pull away with only 9:45 left to play. That just wasn't the case though. Fighting to keep their season alive, Tulane once again cut the deficit, this time to just 3 points with 4:18. This would setup fantastic battle for the lead down the stretch. With 32 seconds left, Cameron Reynolds hit a triple for Tulane to make it just a 1-point game. Then it became a free throw game and too little time would become a factor as the Owls of Temple survived the Green Wave to move onto the 2nd round with a matchup with 2nd seeded Wichita State.
Writer - Adrian Beecher
After a lightning fast start to the game, taking a 10-1 early lead, Tulane started to slow the pace a bit after the 4th minute of the game after a triple from Melvin Frazier made it 13-4.
The Owls cut the deficit to just three points over the next four minutes. Then catching a new burst of energy, the Wave again started to put distance between themselves and Temple. An 8-2 run from the Owls would push their lead back to 9. What would ensue was a true-grit battle between the two teams as they traded punches with the Owls slowly chipping away at the lead. Then with 4:17 left to play in regulation, Josh Brown hit a triple to make it 30-28 as Temple took their first lead of the game. The Owls continued the push, extending their lead to 5 points with 2:13 left to play in the half.
Written by Adrian Beecher
Kyvon Davenport's 27 points led the way for the 5th seeded Memphis Tigers as they held off 12th seed USF in round 1 of the American Men's Basketball Tournament.
The Tigers wasted no time getting started in the AAC tournament. Keyvon Davenport hit a triple to get the scoring started, and kicking off an 8-0 start to the game for Memphis. The first basket of the night from USF came from David Collins with 3 and a half minutes expired. The Bulls kept fighting and were able to pull within 1 with 15:03 left to play off a triple from Payton Banks. Then once again, the Tigers extended their lead, this time to 6 on a triple from Kyvon Davenport. The Bulls would then cut the deficit to just 2 points with 12:37 left in the half, before an offensive explosion from the Tigers. They went on a 9-2 run over the next 5 minutes to take a 27-18 lead on USF. The Bulls continued to fight back but would head to the locker room trailing 38-29. In the 2nd half, USF showed fight, led by Collins, who scored five of the Bulls first eight 1st half points. With 17:39 left in regulation, it was just a 5 point game. Then the Tigers started to pour it on once again, in the form of a 9-2 run over the next two minutes that pushed the Tigers lead to 12. Memphis continued to slowly pull away, answering nearly every basket of the Bulls over the next 5 minutes. With under 9 minutes left to play the Tigers lead had extended to 15. The Bulls were not just out of the fight yet though. Collins hit a triple to cut the Memphis lead to 12. This was the start of an 8-2 run over the next 2:10 that cut the deficit for USF to just 7 points. Two free throws from Collins on back to back possessions would make it a 5 point game. With just 20 seconds left to play, Stephan Jiggetts hit a triple for USF from the left corner to cut it to a 3 point game. On the ensuing possession, Memphis missed both free throws. The Bulls gained possession and took a timeout with just 14 seconds left to play. Out of the timeout, Jiggetts got a great look at a game-tying triple, but it hit the front end and missed. The Bulls got the rebound, and Justin Brown got fouled on the putback. The shot missed, however, and there would be just .7 seconds left on the clock. There was just not enough time left for the Bulls to pull off the comeback upset. Memphis punched their ticket to a round 2 matchup with Tulsa on Friday in Orlando, FL.
Written by Austin Fackler
ORLANDO, Fla. - The start to the AAC Tournament saw the SMU Mustangs taking on the Huskies of Connecticut.
The SMU Mustangs came into this tournament with something to prove after battling injury all year they looked to make some noise against the struggling UCONN Huskies in the first game of the AAC Tournament. The game started off slow with both teams trying to find their footing, SMU would jump out to a 9-2 lead but the Huskies wouldn’t stay quiet for long cutting the Mustang lead down to 2 halfway through the first half. After cutting the lead however the Huskies would allow SMU to go on a 12-2 run which gave SMU a 25-13 lead with 7:16 remaining in the first half. The Mustangs would continue to stay consistent scoring while playing solid defense and not allowing the Huskies to cut the lead below 10 the last 6 minutes of the first half, growing their lead to 19 before halftime taking a 42-23 advantage into the lockerroom. The Mustangs were led by Jr. guard Jahmal McMurray who ended the half with 12 points while Akoy Agau helped out with 10 points as well as 3 offensive rebounds. The Huskies struggled offensively shooting just 38% from the field in the first half. With their season on the line the Huskies came out strong in the second half going on a 12-2 run to cut the lead to 10 with 14:20 on the clock. SMU would weather the storm though not letting their lead get below 10. After 5 turnovers on the offensive end for UCONN the Mustangs would grow their lead 21 with 11:42 remaining in the second half. In the final three minutes the Huskies would get some offensive production and cut the lead down to 8 and would eventually get the lead down to 3 with under a minute left but the Mustangs offense was too much for the Huskies and down in the final minutes their defense would hold strong as their offense was hitting their free throws to come away with a 80-73 win. The Mustangs were led by Ben Emelogu who finished with 23 points and 8 rebounds as well as Akoy Agau who finished with 21 points and Jahmal McMurray who finished with 19 points. As for the Huskies Christian Vital was the leading scorer finished the game with 24 points, Antwoine Anderson finished the game with 19 points. Head Coach Tim Jankovich was happy with the win and happy for his seniors saying “For me the best part is today for them and they get to feel this feeling” He added that he was happy with his team for fighting off two great runs by UCONN saying “Our guys handled that very well and hit free throws down the stretch too.” The Mustangs will face off against the top-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats at noon on Friday as they look to make a run for the NCAA tournament. |
2018 AAC Men's Basketball TourneyMarch 8th - 11th ArchivesCategories |