UAB defeated No. 19 Memphis in American Athletic Conference men's basketball action on January 29.

No. 22 Florida Atlantic 66, North Texas 63 - Box Score
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) Johnell Davis rewarded Dusty May's trust.

Davis scored 28 points, capping it off on a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left, and No. 22 Florida Atlantic held off North Texas 66-63 on Sunday for its sixth consecutive win.

The final play for the Owls ended up being a broken one, and May considered calling timeout on a couple of occasions as the last seconds ticked away. But with the ball in his top scorer's hands, May rolled the dice.

Swish. Win. Again.

“I decided not to call timeout and trust him,” said May, who has coached FAU to 52 wins since the start of last season - the most in Division I, one more than Houston has in that span. “When you've got a potential player of the year on your team, you've got to trust him.”

Vladislav Goldin had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Owls (17-4, 7-1 American Athletic Conference), who led for only 3:16 of the game's 40 minutes. But Davis - who scored more points than anyone has managed against North Texas this season - delivered with the game on the line, from just in front of the FAU bench.

“We're very comfortable,” Davis said of FAU's penchant for late-game heroics; the Owls are now 4-2 in games decided by five points or fewer this season. “We know what we need to do at the end of the day.”

Robert Allen scored 15 for North Texas (12-7, 5-2), while CJ Noland had 14, Jason Edwards and John Buggs III each finished with 12 and Aaron Scott scored 10. The Mean Green were bidding for their first road win in 37 tries against an AP Top 25 team since 1971 - and nearly got it, until Davis hit the shot of the day.

“Tip your cap to him,” North Texas coach Ross Hodge said.

FAU took a pair of one-point leads midway through the second half; both were quickly snuffed out by 3-pointers from Buggs, a beyond-the-arc specialist.

Buggs started the game 4 for 4 from deep, making him 9 for 9 since Dec. 30. He's made four 3-pointers and finished with 12 points in each of his last four outings - and hasn't scored a point other than on a 3 since Dec. 10.

But he missed a wide-open look with about 25 seconds left. And Davis hit the game winner on FAU's ensuing possession.

The Mean Green - who led 28-26 at halftime and led by as many as seven early in the second half - are 11-0 this season when scoring 65 or more points. They’re now 1-7 when scoring 64 or less.

“He'd been 4 for 4 and he's wide-open at the top of the key,” Hodge said of Buggs. “You can't draw up something better than that. I told him, 'Dude, I want you shooting that shot 1,000 out of 1,000 times.”

Wichita State 77, SMU 72 - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Harlond Beverly led Wichita State with 14 points and Ronnie DeGray III secured the victory with a layup with 34 seconds remaining as the Shockers knocked off SMU 77-72 on Sunday.

Beverly had five rebounds for the Shockers (9-11, 1-6 American Athletic Conference). Colby Rogers scored 12 points and added five rebounds. DeGray had 11 points and finished 5 of 7 from the field. The Shockers stopped an eight-game slide with the victory.

Chuck Harris led the way for the Mustangs (13-7, 4-3) with 15 points and four assists. SMU also got 12 points, five assists and three steals from Zhuric Phelps. Jalen Smith also had 11 points.

Dalen Ridgnal scored eight points in the first half and Wichita State went into the break trailing 41-37. DeGray scored 11 points in the second half for Wichita State, including his game-winning shot in the final minute.

UAB 97, No. 19 Memphis 88 - Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Yaxel Lendeborg, Eric Gaines and UAB capitalized on their shot at a ranked opponent, albeit one on a losing streak.

Lendeborg had 23 points and 16 rebounds and Gaines broke out of a 3-point slump while scoring 20 points during UAB's 97-88 victory over No. 19 Memphis on Sunday at a packed Bartow Arena.

“Obviously when you get an opportunity to play Memphis, a nationally ranked team on national television, you hope to maximize the opportunity, and I think our guys certainly did that,” UAB coach Andy Kennedy said. "I think our whole fan base did that. I think Birmingham did that.

“I think it was a win all across the board.”

For the Tigers, it was a third straight loss even if the first two came by a combined three points.

“We know why we’re having the problems,” Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said. “We’re talking about it. We're watching film. We're getting it handled in practice. Then when the game starts, the effort and the energy just isn’t there.”

The hot-shooting Blazers (13-7, 5-2 American Athletic Conference) managed to upend a reeling Memphis team that had won 18 of their last 19 meetings as Conference USA rivals.

The Tigers (15-5, 4-3) cut a 15-point deficit down to 88-80 on Nae'Qwan Tomlin's 3-pointer with 4:06 remaining, capping a 7-0 spurt.

They didn't score again for nearly three minutes before David Jones' 3 cut it to seven. UAB had made just 2 of 6 free throws during that span to leave Memphis' comeback hopes alive, but then Efrem Johnson and Javian Davis each made a pair.

Lendeborg had 10 offensive rebounds and made 9 of 10 free throws. Gaines came into the game on a 0-for-20 3-point slump but made 3 of 4 from deep.

“This was amazing,” Lendeborg said. “This was like pretty much everybody’s dream. On the court, I felt like I could cry. This was a really special moment for me and the team.”

Jones led Memphis with 24 points, nine rebounds and seven steals. He also committed nine turnovers.

Malcolm Dandridge scored a career-high 19 for Memphis on 8-of-11 shooting. Jahvon Quinerly, a transfer from Alabama, had 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting. Tomlin fouled out with 12 points.

Daniel Ortiz and Johnson both scored 12 for UAB, and Davis added 10. Ortiz made four 3s.

Memphis had dropped two straight one-possession games after blowing late leads, losing to South Florida (74-73) and Tulane (81-79).

“It's going to take these guys in the locker room to change," Hardaway said. He saw ”just a bunch of blank faces in there" with no players speaking up.

The Blazers took a 45-44 lead into halftime after Gaines' 3-pointer with 2 seconds left, momentum that carried over out of the break.

East Carolina 70, Temple 64 (OT) - Box Score
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) RJ Felton scored 24 points and Jaden Walker added five in the overtime as East Carolina beat Temple 70-64 on Sunday night.

Felton added 11 rebounds and three steals for the Pirates (11-10, 4-4 American Athletic Conference). Bobby Pettiford scored 12 points and added five rebounds. Walker shot 3 of 7 from the field and 4 for 5 from the free-throw line to finish with 10 points.

Joran Riley led the way for the Owls (8-13, 1-7) with 20 points and eight rebounds. Hysier Miller added 16 points and two steals for Temple. In addition, Shane Dezonie had 12 points and nine rebounds. The loss was the Owls' sixth in a row.

Felton put up 10 points in the first half for East Carolina, who led 27-26 at halftime. East Carolina was outscored by one point in the second half and the teams finished regulation tied 60-60. Walker scored his five the overtime points while going 1 of 3 and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line.

Felton made two free throws with 13 seconds remaining in regulation that made it 60-all and Miller missed a potential winning layup just before the buzzer.