The No. 6 Memphis Tigers barely survived the No. 11 Saint Mary's Gaels on Thursday in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Memphis walked out of Michigan with the 54-52 victory as the game went down to the wire.
There was some drama in this one late in the game. You can thank a three pointer by Eividas Petrulis with five seconds remaining getting Saint Mary's closer to tying the game. Joe Jackson of Memphis then added a turnover, giving the ball back to Saint Mary's. With 1.9 seconds left in the game, Saint Mary's inbounded the ball from around their baseline. Matthew Dellavedova missed the off balance three pointer and Memphis got the victory.
Memphis' defense stepped it up and basically saved this game as they had 12 blocks in this game. Eight of these blocks came from D.J. Stephens who also added nine points and a steal. Adding more defense, but this time off the bench, Chris Crawford had five steals in the game and the team totaled nine in the game.
Jackson, though he almost cost Memphis the game, had 14 points to lead the team in scoring. He also added six rebounds and seven assists. Off the bench, Tarik Black added offense scoring 12 points.
For Saint Mary's, Brad Waldow finished with the game-high scoring 17 points. He shot 7-11 from the floor and tried his best down the stretch to get his team into the third round of the action.
Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, who defeated Middle Tennessee in the first round to get into the big phase of the NCAA Tournament.
Memphis will face the Michigan St. Spartans in the third round of the tournament.
