Charlotte, No. 20 Florida Atlantic and South Florida all won to remain in a tie for first place in the American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings in action on Saturday, February 3.
Memphis 65, Wichita State 63 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) David Jones scored the game-winning jump shot with three seconds left and racked up 26 total points to lead Memphis past Wichita State 65-63 on Saturday.
Jones added six rebounds for the Tigers (16-6, 5-4 American Athletic Conference). Malcolm Dandridge scored 11 points and added seven rebounds. Nae'Qwan Tomlin had 10 points and finished 5 of 11 from the field.
Colby Rogers finished with 19 points and four assists for the Shockers (9-13, 1-8). Ronnie DeGray III added 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals for Wichita State.
Jones scored 10 points in the first half and Memphis went into the break trailing 30-24. Jones scored 16 second-half points, including his game-winning shot.
Memphis never led until the final minute and trailed by 13 points midway through the second half.
Charlotte 67, East Carolina 52 - Box Score
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- — Lu'Cye Patterson's 16 points helped Charlotte defeat East Carolina 67-52 on Saturday.
Patterson was 7 of 13 shooting (1 for 5 from 3-point range) for the 49ers (14-7, 8-1 American Athletic Conference). Igor Milicic Jr. scored 12 points while shooting 3 of 6 from the field and 5 for 6 from the line, and added 10 rebounds and five blocks. Nik Graves had 11 points and shot 2 for 11 (1 for 5 from 3-point range) and 6 of 6 from the free throw line. The 49ers picked up their eighth straight victory.
The Pirates (11-12, 4-6) were led by RJ Felton, who recorded 20 points and two steals. Jaden Walker added nine points for East Carolina. In addition, Cyr Malonga finished with six points.
The game was tight going into the half, as Charlotte held a two-point lead, 26-24. Robert Braswell paced his team in scoring through the first half with seven points. Charlotte took the lead with 17:01 left in the game and never looked back. Graves helped their team pull away for the victory with 11 second-half points.
Rice 80, UTSA 76 - Box Score
SAN ANTONIO (AP) Mekhi Mason scored 30 points as Rice beat UTSA 80-76 on Saturday night.
Mason was 11-of-19 shooting, including 3 for 7 from 3-point range, and went 5 for 7 from the line for the Owls (9-13, 3-6 American Athletic Conference). Travis Evee scored 18 points while going 6 of 14 from the floor, including 4 for 8 from 3-point range, and 2 for 3 from the line.
Jordan Ivy-Curry led the Roadrunners (8-14, 2-7) in scoring, finishing with 19 points. Christian Tucker added 14 points, eight assists and four steals for UTSA. Adante' Holiman also recorded 11 points.
Mason put up 13 points in the first half for Rice, who led 39-28 at the break.
No. 20 Florida Atlantic 102, Tulsa 70 - Box Score
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) Here’s the possession that sums up the night for Florida Atlantic: Bryan Greenlee got a steal near midcourt and wound up trying a dunk in transition, got stuffed by the rim, then made a 3-pointer a few seconds later.
Everything went FAU’s way.
Johnell Davis scored 24 points, Alijah Martin and Vladislav Goldin each scored 18 and No. 20 Florida Atlantic easily topped Tulsa 102-70 on Saturday night for its seventh consecutive win.
“It’s so in character for our team that it turned into a 3 on the same possession,” FAU coach Dusty May said. “The staff reminds me a lot - I get frustrated when we miss a dunk, and we usually tip it out and hit a 3, and they’ll hit me on the shoulder and say ‘3 is better than 2.’”
Nick Boyd finished with 13 and Greenlee added 11 for Florida Atlantic (18-4, 8-1 American Athletic Conference), which remained tied with Charlotte and South Florida atop the league standings. Charlotte pulled away to beat East Carolina earlier Saturday and USF won at North Texas.
PJ Haggerty scored 25 and Cobe Williams added 16 for Tulsa (12-9, 3-6). The Golden Hurricane scored 27 points in the first half, then needed only 10 minutes of the second half to score their next 27 - but trailed by double digits most of the way.
Tyshawn Archie scored 11 for Tulsa, which was 4 for 28 from 3-point range.
“It's hard to reel it back in on them, because they're a rhythm team,” Tulsa coach Eric Konkol said of FAU. “It's almost like they get going faster and faster. I was really impressed on both ends by them. We had a hard time on both ends.”
FAU scored six points in three seconds midway through the second half, and the margin got out of hand from there. Davis scored while Goldin was being flagrantly fouled to start that burst. Goldin made both free throws, got fouled again three seconds later and made two more from the line.
The 32-point margin was the second-largest in an American conference game this season. SMU beat Tulsa by 33 on Jan. 20.
“We're young, and with that comes some wildly good moments and wildly not-so-great moments,” Konkol said.
Brandon Weatherspoon went baseline for a dunk with 9:18 left in the half to start what became a 19-1 FAU run, one that turned a one-point deficit into a 17-point lead - and took only 4 1/2 minutes.
Davis and Boyd each made two 3-pointers in that burst, Tulsa missed seven consecutive shots and the FAU lead was 32-15 with 4:50 left until halftime.
The Golden Hurricane closed within nine later in the half, but FAU's edge was 40-27 at the break. The Owls then scored 62 points in the second half.
South Florida 60, North Texas 55 - Box Score
DENTON, Texas (AP) Chris Youngblood had 16 points in South Florida's 60-55 win over North Texas on Saturday night.
Youngblood shot 5 for 11, including 4 for 7 from beyond the arc for the Bulls (15-5, 8-1 American Athletic Conference), who upped their win streak to seven. Kasean Pryor had nine points and 12 rebounds. Selton Miguel also scored nine.
Jason Edwards led the way for the Mean Green (12-9, 5-4) with 31 points. North Texas also got eight points from John Buggs III.
Youngblood scored 13 second-half points to help South Florida rally from a 31-26 halftime deficit.