Aubrey Coleman — the NCAA’s scoring leader — hit a bucket with five seconds left to give his Houston Cougars a 66-65 victory over the Tigers in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA tournament. Willie Kemp had scored 10 points over the game’s last five minutes to erase what was once an 11-point deficit for the Tigers. His last points of the game gave the Tigers a 65-64 lead with 29 seconds left before Coleman’s heroics. (Coleman finished with 21 points for the game.)
Elliot Williams made only one of nine field-goal attempts for the Tigers, scoring eight of his 10 points from the free-throw line. Will Coleman added 14 and Kemp led the Tigers with 15.
The loss is the Tigers’ first in C-USA tournament play since the 2005 championship. With a record of 23-9, Memphis will now have an agonizing wait until selections for the NCAA tournament are made Sunday afternoon. Having lost in the first round of their conference tourney to a team with an RPI well over 100, the Tigers are likely headed for the NIT.
