Tulane University
Memphis
Men's Basketball Drops Heartbreak to Memphis
Jan 24, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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NEW ORLEANS - The "big three" of Jay Hook, Louis Dabney and Jonathan Stark teamed up to score 33 points for the Tulane men's basketball team, but a late jumper by Memphis' Austin Nichols spoiled the Green Wave's return the Smoothie King Center in a, 57-55, Tigers victory on Saturday night.
After Green Wave (13-7, 4-4 American) junior guard Dabney, who finished with 10 points, tied the game at 55 with a free throw with 0:31 left, Nichols hit a fall away jumper of the left side with 3.1 remaining on the clock to lift Memphis (12-7, 5-3 American) to the victory.
"I give credit to Nichols for that big time play. He's an efficient player," Tulane head coach Ed Conroy said. "He is a tough match-up for us and I thought we did a nice job compared to how he hurt us last time. He was very efficient tonight and obviously hit the big shot when he needed too."
Memphis, who led, 32-25, at halftime and held as big as a 12-point advantage in the opening half, never relinquished the lead in the final 20 minutes despite the Green Wave forcing a tie on three occasions, including after Dabney's free throw.
Tulane trailed 49-40 with 9:49 left in the game and used an 11-2 run to tie the score at 51 with 2:32 remaining. Hook drained four free throws, Stark sank a pair from the charity stripe, Dylan Osetkowski scored on a tip-in and Dabney scored three, including a lay-up that capped the run.
Nicholls broke the tie with a free throw and tip-in of his own, but Hook answered with his third three-pointer of the game to make it 54-54 with 1:11 left. Nicholls and Dabney traded free throws before the Memphis forward connected on the game winner.
"I'd like to give credit to our team as well," Conroy said. "We were a little flat early and I thought our crowd got us going late and I really appreciate the way the crowd was into the game in the second half.
"Our guys really fed off of that and fought hard," Conroy added. "But, when you fight as hard as they did to come back after building yourself that deficit, sometimes you don't execute as well as you need too down the stretch. That certainly was the case tonight."
Hook, a senior guard for the Green Wave, finished with 13 points and Stark, a sophomore guard added 10 points.
Nichols finished with a game-high 17 points, while Markel Crawford added 15 points for the Tigers.
Tulane shot 36.0 percent (18-50) from the floor and connected on six-of-17 three-pointers. With the Green Wave's six three-pointers in the game, the fans that were in attendance can take their ticket to a local Papa Johns on Sunday for a $6 one topping large pizza or go online and use promo code 6for6.
Memphis shot 43.4 percent (23-53) from the floor, but managed just five-of-17 from long range.
The Green Wave pulled down 34 rebounds, including 11 on the offensive end that resulted in 16 second chance points. Osetkowski led Tulane with eight boards to go with eight points. Ryan Smith had six rebounds as well. Memphis grabbed 31 boards, led by Nichols' game-high nine.
Tulane returns to Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse to host Tulsa on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT.
For ticket information please contact Athletic Ticket Sales & Service at (504) 861-WAVE or online at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.
GAME NOTES
- Sophomore Jonathan Stark scored in double figures for the 14th time this season and the 41st game of his career with 10 points tonight.
- Senior guard Jay Hook scored in double figures for the 14th time this season and the 37th game of his career with 13 points tonight.
- Junior guard Louis Dabney scored in double figures for the 15th time this season and the 42nd game of his career with 10 points tonight.
