University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
4-4
North Carolina Central
6-5
Tigers Roll Over N.C. Central
Dec 15, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Box Score | Quotes | Notes
VIDEOS: Coach Pastner Post-Game Press Conference | Player Post-Game Interviews
BOX SCORE (PDF) 
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Tigers jumped out to an early lead and didn't look back as they cruised to a 81-47 victory against North Carolina Central at FedExForum on Monday evening.
For the second time this season the Tigers shot better than 50 percent as they improved to 4-4 with the win. The Eagles dropped to 6-5 with the loss, and had only Nimrod Hilliard finish in double digits with 11. It was the worst loss for N.C. Central since Feb. 17, 2011 and was also the last time a team had handed the Eagles a double-digit loss.
Junior guard Trahson Burrell led a well-balanced Tiger attack with 15 points. Ten of the 11 Tigers who saw action scored, and scored five or more points. The other two Tigers to finish in double digits were Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols.
Sophomore Nick King set a career high as he brought down 11 rebounds, while the team brought down 47, more than doubling N.C. Central's 23 rebounds.
Burrell got the Tigers going right away with a jumper just 17 seconds in. Then a layup from Nichols, a pair of free throws from Goodwin and a dunk from Nichols forced a N.C. State timeout. Out of the timeout the Eagles got on the board, but wouldn't hit another field goal until the 13:07 three pointer to put an end to a 15-3 Tiger run to open the game.
Instead of allowing its opponents back into the game, Memphis started another run with four free throws from Kuran Iverson and Pookie Powell. This time it was a 22-4 run that was powered by a pair of two three pointers from Powell and another two from Kedren Johnson.
At the break, Memphis led 42-18, the biggest halftime lead of the season for the UofM.
Memphis shot 14-28 for 50 percent in the first half, while holding N.C. Central to 25 percent on 5-20 shooting. Memphis tripled the Eagles in rebounds with 24 at the break and brought down eight on the offensive end, which led to nine second chance points.
After a quick layup to start the second half from Hilliard, Goodwin got the Tigers started with a layup. The two teams went back and forth for a few minutes before a dunk from Nichols and a layup from D'Marnie Cunningham helped the Tigers start to double the N.C. Central scoring 54-27 with 15:58 remaining.
A little more than two minutes later and an Iverson jumper put the Tigers up 35. The UofM would eventually push its lead to a game-high 39 multiple times.
With about five minutes remaining, Sophomore Jake McDowell entered to a big applause from the fans. He responded with a breakaway dunk that got the Tigers bench on its feet. A minute later he put an exclamation point on the night by knocking down a corner three to put Memphis up 81-42 with 1:16 remaining.
The Tigers dominated the paint all game, finishing with 50 points. They turned it over 14 times, but N.C. Central was only able to score three points off of them. Memphis forced the Eagles into 15 turnovers and scored 17 points off of them. Once again the Tigers bench outscored its opponents with a 36-15 advantage.
Memphis is back at FedExForum on Wednesday for a showdown against USC Upstate. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. on WatchESPN.
