The Tigers eased their way to a third straight win this afternoon in New Orleans, improving to 12-4 while handing Tulane its fifth straight loss. Dedric Lawson scored 24 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for his 13th double-double in 16 games, and the 30th of his two-year college career. (Lawson becomes the ninth Memphis player with 30 such games.) Markel Crawford continued his midseason scoring surge, putting up 24 points and draining five three-pointers. Crawford has averaged 23.7 points over the Tigers’ last three games after averaging 13.5 in the first 13 games of the season.
The win improves Memphis to 12-4 for the season and 2-1 in the American Athletic Conference. Tulane falls to 3-12 (0-3).
The Green Wave enjoyed an 11-0 run midway through the first half to take a 25-20 lead, only to surrender a 13-0 Tiger counterpunch sparked by a Crawford trey and steal-and-dunk by point guard Jeremiah Martin. Memphis led 36-26 at halftime and extended its lead to 17 less than eight minutes into the second half.
The Tigers cruised despite committing a season-high 21 turnovers. They shot 52 percent from the field while holding Tulane to 34 percent. Memphis hit nine of 21 shots from long-distance and outrebounded the Green Wave, 43-32.
Freshman forward K.J. Lawson added 13 points and 8 rebounds for the U of M. Melvin Frazier and Kain Harris led Tulane with 15 points.
The Tigers are now 2-1 on the road this season and travel to Tulsa to face the Golden Hurricane on Wednesday.
