Memphis Drops to 1-4 following Buzzer-Beater
The Tigers fall to 1-4 in heartbreaking fashion. Wake Forest’s Myles Colvin hit a last second triple to send Memphis back home with zero wins in the Bahamas.
The Tigers were led by guard Dug McDaniels who scored a season high 24 points. McDaniels also finished with six assists and five rebounds.
First Half
Both the Tigers and the Demon Deacons got off to a six-point start. That was until Memphis began to pull away at the 16 minute mark when Dug McDaniel hit his second three of the night.
The guard sparked a 13-0 run that was capped off by a perfectly executed transition layup from Quante Berry. The Tigers led 19-6 with 11 minutes to go.
Wake Forest answered with a run of their own and cut the lead to five after a pair of threes from Tre’Von Spillers. The Demon Deacons started 1-10 from the perimeter, but ended up shooting 5-19
William Whorton scored his first basket of the season with 1:28 to go to put the Tigers up seven, and Ashton Hardaway closed the half out to bring the score to 33-27.
Dug McDaniel had an effective 14-point half, shooting 5-7 from the field and 4-5 from the perimeter, including some extended range triples.
Second Half
The Tiger’s offense got off to a slow start, scoring just five points in the first five minutes. However, the Demon Deacons could not capitalize. The Tigers still remained up by three after a Curtis Given’s III layup.
After eight minutes of play, Wake Forest took their first lead since the 17-minute mark of the first half and led 42-40. Minutes later, the Tigers responded with a 7-0 run, started by Whorton and ended by a Zach Davis triple, to gain a 52-47 lead.
Davis knocked down his second three of the night a few possessions later to start an 8-0 run that lasted just a minute and a half, but gave the Tigers an 11-point lead with 6:57 to go.
Wake Forest did not lose heart and responded with their own run, led by Spillers, and cut the deficit to four, with five minutes remaining.
Inside the 1:45, Memphis led 60-66 until the Demon Deacons scored six straight and tied the game with a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to play. Dug McDaniel knocked down his foul shots to give Memphis back the lead with 1.5 seconds on the clock.
Wake Forest had no timeouts remaining, so they threw a full-court inbound pass, then flipped the ball back out to Myles Colvin, who finished with 19 points, for a buzzer beating three that gave them the lead, 69-68.
Stats
The Tigers finished shooting 23-56(41.1%) from the field and 11-29(37.9%) from the perimeter. The detriment to the Tigers came from the turnover ratio. Memphis turned the ball over 17 times, 5 coming from Ashton Hardaway, and finished with just 12 assists.
What’s Next
The Tigers will be back home in FedExForum to take on the Southern Illinois Salukis (2-2). Memphis will aim to course correct and work towards getting back to .500 in their out of conference games. Tip off is set for Thursday at 7.p.m.
