No. 17 Memphis tops Temple, avenging lone AAC loss

PJ Haggerty scored 20 points and dished out seven assists Sunday as No. 17 Memphis avenged its only American Athletic Conference loss with an 85-79 decision over visiting Temple.

The Tigers (20-4, 10-1) upped their AAC lead over UAB to 1 1/2 games despite the absence of second-leading scorer Tyrese Hunter, who sat out with a knee injury. Dante Harris started in his place and added 14 points.

Dain Dainja contributed 18 points and eight rebounds, while Nicholas Jourdain chipped in 11 points. Moussa Cisse tallied 10 points and six rebounds off the bench for Memphis, which shot 56.1 percent from the field (32 of 57) and 42.1 percent (8 of 19) from 3-point range.

Five players scored in double figures for the Owls (14-10, 6-5), led by Aiden Tobiason with 18 points, far above his 3.4 ppg average. Steve Settle scored 17, while Quante Berry added 16. Shane Dezonie netted 13 before fouling out and Elijah Gray got 10.

Temple played without leading scorer Jamal Mashburn Jr., who missed his second straight game with a foot injury. Despite canning 11-of-22 3-point attempts and 50 percent (27 of 54) from the field, the Owls fell to 2-7 on the road.

Dainja hit a layup with 15:41 left in the game to put Memphis ahead for good at 44-42. The Tigers used an 8-2 run to establish a 79-64 lead on Haggerty's 3-pointer at the 4:33 mark and held on from there.

Temple handed Memphis an 88-81 loss last month in Philadelphia, its only AAC defeat. It hung with the Tigers in the rematch despite the absence of Mashburn's 22.1 ppg, forging a 35-35 halftime tie on a Tobiason 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining.

The teams combined for 21 first-half turnovers, including 11 by Memphis.

--Field Level Media