Jamal Shead capped a 16-point performance with a game-winning jumper at the buzzer as visiting No. 1 Houston came from behind to beat Memphis 67-65 on Sunday in the regular-season finale for the American Athletic Conference’s top two teams.
The Cougars (29-2, 17-1 AAC) have won 11 straight games and will be the top seed in the AAC Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. Memphis (23-8, 13-5 AAC) is slotted in the No. 2 spot. Both have byes in the first round and will start play on Friday.
Memphis trailed by nine points at halftime, then by 12 when Houston’s Jarace Walker started the second half with a 3-pointer. But the Tigers surged to a 48-47 lead with 13:35 to go in the half following a 3-point barrage led by Kendric Davis and Chandler Lawson.
Walker’s jumper from beyond the arc with 6:16 to play got the Cougars back on track and Marcus Sasser’s 3-pointer with 4:17 left put the Cougars back on top. Two free throws by Sasser with 3:49 to play capped a 10-0 Cougars run and produced a 61-56 advantage.
A 3-pointer by Davis tied the game at 63-63 with 2:02 to play. Shead then hit a jumper with 1:13 left to put Houston in front. Memphis tied the game again at 65 with Davis’ layup with eight seconds remaining. But that was too much time left on the clock, as Shead took the ball the length of the floor for the game-winning pullup jumper.
Tramon Mark added 16 points for Houston, with Sasser scoring 13 and Walker hitting 10.
Davis had 26 points for Memphis to lead all scorers while Chandler Lawson had 10 for the Tigers, who had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Mark’s second-chance jumper with 12:08 to play in the half gave the Cougars a 19-11 lead and a 3-pointer by Shead with 8:37 remaining stoke the margin to 11 points.
Memphis fought back to within 33-29 on Malcolm Dandridge’s dunk after a Williams steal and assist with 4:52 left before halftime, But Houston answered with 3-pointers from Emanuel Sharp and Mark on its next two possessions and eventually took a 41-32 advantage to the break.
Mark led all scorers with 14 points before halftime, with Shead adding 10 as Houston outshot the Tigers 45.5 percent to 30.8 percent in the half. Davis paced the Tigers with 13 points in the half.
–Field Level Media
