Memphis takes heartbreaking 76-74 defeat to seventh-ranked Houston in AAC semifinals

Saturday, March 13

Fort Worth, Texas / Dickies Arena

4:30 p.m.

University of Memphis

16-8,11-4AAC

Houston

23-3,14-3AAC

Memphis

Houston

Photo by: (Ben Solomon/American Athletic Conference)

Memphis takes heartbreaking 76-74 defeat to seventh-ranked Houston in AAC semifinals

Mar 13, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas – An absolute classic March game did not break Memphis' way in the final seconds, and the second-seeded and seventh-ranked Houston Cougars escaped with a 76-74 win over the third-seeded Memphis Tigers in the semifinals of the 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas.

Memphis (16-8) trailed by 12 points at the half but led in the second half on five occasions, including 71-70 with 1:32 to play. But Houston (23-3) scored six of the game's final nine points to pick up the win and advance to the AAC Tournament championship game.

Including Sunday's buzzer-beater loss in the regular-season finale at Houston, Memphis dropped two games to the top-10 Cougars by a combined five points.

Saturday's second half alone featured five ties and 10 lead changes.

Boogie Ellis finished with a career-high 27 points, going 9-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-8 from 3-point range. He also had four steals and two assists. DeAndre Williams added 16 points, three assists, a steal and a block for the Tigers.

D.J. Jeffries was also in double figures with 10 points.

Houston was paced by co-AAC Player of the Year Quentin Grimes' 21 points.

After trailing 41-29 at halftime, the Tigers came out and scored 17 of the second half's first 22 points to tie the game at 46. Memphis' first lead of the half was 51-50 after an Ellis triple, and from there the back-and-forth contest was on.

Landers Nolley II buried a 3 to turn a two-point deficit into a one-point lead at 61-60, and a couple of minutes later the Tigers had a 66-62 lead after a pair of free throws by Lester Quinones. Houston scored five-straight after that, though, but Ellis gave the Tigers the lead again at 68-67 on a driving layup.

The lead flipped twice in the last 90 seconds of the game, with Memphis on top 71-70 with 1:32 to go.

But the Cougars scored six-straight points and opened a 76-71 lead before Ellis drained a 3 near the end of the clock to bring the game to its final score of 76-74.

Memphis shot 49.1 percent from the floor (26-53) in the contest.

Up Next
The Tigers will find out if their season continues Sunday, beginning with the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 5 p.m. on CBS.