With a thrilling 78-77 victory over Temple in the semifinals of the NIT Tuesday night in New York, the University of Memphis will play Thursday for its first postseason title since losing the 1973 NCAA championship game to UCLA.
The Tigers will face South Carolina, a 66-59 winner over Syracuse Tuesday night, for the tournament title after surviving a nailbiter against the Owls. Temple (18-15) had three point-blank opportunities at the basket in the closing seconds, but was unable to capitalize, handing Memphis a ticket to Thursday night’s championship game.
Before the Owls’ final possession, Tiger freshman guard Dajuan Wagner, who tied a career-high with 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting, found senior Kelly Wise for a dunk and a 78-77 lead with 18.5 seconds remaining in the game.
Temple, playing without any timeouts, got the ball to sophomore guard David Hawkins, who missed a runner off the rim before the Owls’ big men missed three chances inside as time expired.
“It came down to one bounce of the ball,” Tiger head coach John Calipari said after the game. “We’ve had a lot bounce the other way. That may be the first one that bounced our way.”
From the start, the game saw both teams answer each other’s runs in a see-saw battle. The score remained tight for the contest’s first seven minutes, with Wagner scoring nine of the Tigers’ first 15 points.
After a layup by Temple big man Kevin Lyde narrowed the score to 15-14, Memphis went on a 12-4 run to increase its lead to 27-18. Two buckets later, Wagner poured in five quick points to give the Tigers their biggest lead of the night at 34-21.
But after Tiger forward Chris Massie made the score 38-26 with a free throw, Temple went on a 9-2 run to pull to within 40-35 at the half. The Owls’ were fortunate to be down just five after shooting just 36.4 percent (12-of-33) from the field in the first half to Memphis’ 48.3 percent (14-of-29).
The second half begin much like the first, with both teams trading baskets.
After Temple cut the Tigers’ lead to two, Temple guard Brian Polk drilled a three-pointer to give the Owls their first lead since early in the first half. Temple then used a 14-5 run to take a 61-56 lead.
But Wagner tied the score at 65-65 a few minutes later with a three-point play, then scored five more points to give the Tigers a 71-65 lead.
“He’s a great player, there’s no question about it,” Temple head coach John Chaney said of Wagner. “He was boxed in today and looked like a rat trying to get out of a trap half the time because he likes speed and we slowed him down.”
Temple, however, answered the Tigers with six quick points to even the score at 71-71 with 2:28 remaining.
Polk then hit an NBA-range three-pointer at the 1:18 mark to give the Owls a 77-74 lead.
After a Memphis timeout, a play was set up to get the ball to Wagner, who made a powerful drive on the baseline and jammed the ball over several Temple defenders while drawing the foul.
Wagner missed the free throw and Memphis found itself down 77-76 with under a minute to go.
After a defensive stop, Wagner found Wise near the basket alone for the game winner.
“What I am most proud of with my team is that we made plays down the stretch,” Calipari said. “Scooter (McFadgon) makes one. Dajuan makes one. We win it on a defensive stop and then an offensive unselfish play by Dajuan to Kelly.
“That makes me proud because that’s how you’re supposed to win games.”
Calipari praised Wise, who finished the game with six points and eight rebounds.
“Just being out there, he does something for these guys,” Calipari said. “He does something to this team that puts us on another level. He’s playing at 75 percent because he wants his team to win a championship.”
Massie added 14 points and 13 rebounds for Memphis (26-9) while McFadgon finished with 12 points.
