National Basketball Association
Memphis 56, Texas-El Paso 54
When: 9:00 PM ET, Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Where: Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas
Officials:
# Gerry Pollard, # Bert Smith, # Mark Whitehead
Attendance:
11581
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 20 Memphis 56, Texas-El Paso 56: Junior guard Chris Crawford shot 6-of-9 from the floor to finish with 15 points as the Tigers beat the host Miners to remain unbeaten in Conference USA.
Memphis (26-4, 15-0) also received 11 points and nine rebounds from sophomore forward Adonis Thomas. Junior guard Geron Johnson grabbed 10 boards to contribute to the Tigers' 38-25 edge on the offensive glass.
UTEP (16-13, 9-6) was led by sophomore guard Julian Washburn, who scored 19, and sophomore forward Cedrick Lang, who added 10 points and seven rebounds.
After playing to a 22-all halftime tie, the Miners overcame a six-point deficit to take a 42-40 lead with nine minutes to go. But a Thomas 3-pointer with 2:53 left gave the Tigers the lead for good.
A Washington block gave UTEP a chance to tie coming out of a timeout with 11 seconds left. Sophomore guard C.J. Cooper was fouled on a 3-point attempt, but missed the first free throw and a last-second desperation shot after a steal fell short.
GAME NOTEBOOK: A win in UTEP's regular-season finale against Southern Methodist on Saturday would wrap up the third seed in the Conference USA Tournament for the Miners. … Memphis will attempt to close out a perfect conference slate at home Saturday versus UAB. … The Miners fell to 0-3 against ranked opponents this season.
Top Game Performances
Memphis |
|
Texas-El Paso |
Chris Crawford 15 |
Scoring |
Julian Washburn 19 |
Geron Johnson 7 |
Assists |
John Bohannon 7 |
Geron Johnson 10 |
Rebounds |
Cedrick Lang 7 |
Shaq Goodwin 2 |
Free Throws Made |
Julian Washburn 7 |
Geron Johnson 3 |
Steals |
Jacques Streeter 2 |
Tarik Black 1 |
Blocks |
John Bohannon 3 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Memphis
|
56 |
42.3 |
5-13 |
7-13 |
15 |
32 |
2 |
6 |
16 |
Texas-El Paso
|
54 |
42.2 |
3-16 |
13-19 |
12 |
25 |
4 |
5 |
12 |