The Memphis Tigers earned a trip to the NIT semifinals for the fifth time in the program’s rich history with a win over Boise State Thursday night in Denton, Texas. Sophomore guard Lester Quinones grabbed a Boogie Ellis miss and converted the put-back attempt to seize the lead (56-55) for the Tigers with 32 seconds left on the clock. The Broncos’ Devonaire Doutrive missed a floater on the next possession and Memphis forward DeAndre Williams pulled down the rebound. Williams’s pair of free throws with 13 seconds to play provided the margin of victory.
Now 18-8, the Tigers will face another Mountain West team — Colorado State — in a semifinal to be played Saturday in Frisco, Texas. The Rams (20-6) beat North Carolina State in another quarterfinal Thursday. (Mississippi State faces the winner of Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky in the other semifinal.) Boise State ends its season with a record of 19-9.
The Tigers fell behind early, 15-5, before outscoring the Broncos 18-4 over a seven-minute stretch of the first half. They led 31-26 at halftime and were up by eight points (50-42) with six minutes left in the game. But Boise State rallied, tying the game at 54 on an inside bucket by Mladen Armus. The Broncos took the lead when Doutrive hit one of two free throws with 47 seconds left, setting up what proved to be the game-winning field goal by Quinones.
Ellis and D.J. Jeffries led the Tigers with 11 points each and Quinones added 10 to go with seven rebounds. The Tigers prevailed despite shooting miserably from three-point range (5 for 20) and from the foul line (6 for 15).
Junior guard Alex Lomax remains sidelined with an ankle injury.
The Tigers’ previous trips to the NIT semifinals (all played at Madison Square Garden in New York):
1957 (beat St. Bonaventure in semis; lost to Bradley in final)
2001 (lost to Tulsa in semis)
2002 (beat Temple in semis; beat South Carolina in final)
2005 (lost to St. Joseph’s in semis)
