MEMPHIS – The Memphis men’s basketball team won its 10^th game in its last 12 contests, beating Cincinnati 76-73 Sunday afternoon at FedExForum.

With the victory, the Tigers improved to 22-7 overall and 11-4 in American Athletic Conference (AAC) play, while the Bearcats fell to 19-11 on the year and to 10-7 in league action.

The Tigers are in second place in the AAC standings heading into the last week of the regular season, 1.5 games ahead of Tulane (10-5). Houston wrapped up the regular season crown at 15-1, and the Cougars will be in Memphis next Sunday for the regular-season finale.

The Tigers were led by Kendric Davis‘ 22 points. He connected on 6-of-6 at the line and swiped three steals. Running mate DeAndre Williams added 21 points, a team-high seven rebounds, matched his career high with five steals and blocked a team-high three balls.

After the game was tied at 11 almost eight minutes into the action, Memphis jumped on the Bearcats and rode that momentum the rest of the half.

Alex Lomax sparked the Tigers with back-to-back steals against former teammate Landers Nolley II after sneaking up from behind to swipe the ball from his grip. Both picks led to fastbreak layups and ignited the Memphis faithful.  

Williams scored seven points in a nine-point run that gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game at 33-18 with 6:35 until half.

Memphis carried a 41-30 lead into the break after shooting 51.4 percent from the floor (18-35) and scoring 14 points off 11 Cincinnati turnovers. The Tigers swiped nine steals in the first 20 minutes.

The Bearcats trailed by 14 with 8:50 to play in the game, but quickly got hot to give the Tigers a close battle down the stretch. Cincinnati connected on 7-of-8 field goals over a five-minute span and managed to get it to within a single point with less than two seconds on the clock after a heaved three-pointer banked in from just inside half court.

Davis was fouled on the ensuing inbounds and sank both free throws to seal the 76-73 victory.

Memphis finished the contest shooting 46.2 percent from the floor (30-65) and 76.5 percent from the free throw line (13-17).

Cincinnati was led by David DeJulius’ 16 points.


UP NEXT
Memphis wraps up the regular season next week with a pair of games. The Tigers first travel to SMU for an 8 p.m. tip Thursday before returning home to host No. 1 Houston at 11 a.m. Sunday for senior day.