SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Dain Dainja scored 19 points and No. 16 Memphis beat UTSA 75-70 on Tuesday night to clinch at least a share of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.
The Tigers — who won their first regular-season conference title since 2012-13, their final season in Conference USA — will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which begins March 12.
PJ Haggerty added 18 points, going 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in the final 10 seconds for Memphis (25-5, 15-2 American Athletic Conference). Nick Jourdain added 13 points and Colby Rogers scored 10.
Jonnivius Smith led UTSA (11-18, 5-12) with a season-high 18 points. Marcus Millender added 16, Primo Spears finished with 14 points and seven assists and Tai’Reon Joseph scored 12.
Rogers hit a jumper that gave the Tigers the lead for good almost seven minutes into the game and followed with 3 before Haggerty made a layup to cap a 13-1 run that made it 17-11. Smith hit a 3-pointer that trimmed UTSA's deficit to 23-21 with 8:35 left in the first half but Dainja answered with back-to-back baskets and the Roadrunners got no closer.
Takeaways
Memphis: The Tigers showed some grit, digging in defensively and closing out a road victory despite committing a season-high 22 turnovers.
UTSA: The Roadrunners played swarming defense, keeping Memphis out of rhythm throughout much of the contest but went cold offensively down the stretch.
Ky moment
Millender made the first of two free throws with 3:23 left to cut UTSA's deficit to 69-67 but the Roadrunners didn't score again until Millender hit a 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining.
Key stat
The Tigers outrebounded UTSA 45-25 and made more free throws (20) than the Roadrunners attempted (18).
Next up
Memphis wraps up the regular season at home against South Florida on Friday. UTSA plays its finale Sunday at Charlotte.
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