Jeremiah Martin shoots as he went on to finish with a game-high 26 points, including an 8-of-14 outing from three. The Tigers are now on a three game losing streak.
The University of Memphis men's basketball team defeated Christian Brothers University 95-68 on the final exhibition game before Tuesday's regular season opener.
The Tigers now lead CBU 12-1 in exhibition games. CBU head coach Mike Nienaber faced his fourth Memphis head coach since joining the program in 1999. Senior guard Jeremiah Martin led the team with 24 points and four assists. Tigers head coach Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway was proud of his team's output since CBU tested them throughout the game.
"They (CBU) tested us in every area of the game, especially offensively," Hardaway said. "We got some work to do, but I was still proud of the win and how we played."
The Tigers started a bit sloppy with the Buccaneers keeping toe-to-toe with them in the opening minutes, but Martin was hot shooting 6-7 from the field in the first half. He also was 4-5 from the three-point line. Martin scored the first 11 points of the game for the Tigers.Â
Freshman guard Alex Lomax ended with six points on 3-4 shooting, but he produced well on both ends of the floor, dishing out eight assists and forcing six steals. Freshman guard Tyler Harris was quiet throughout most of the game but ended with a late surge scoring the last three field goals of the game. Harris had 15 points on 6-14 shooting, three rebounds and two assists. Freshman guard Antwann Jones had a solid night with nine points on 4-7 shooting as well as three steals.
The three freshmen will more than likely have vital roles throughout the season, but they will have to play a smoother game as they combined for 9 turnovers, 56 percent of the team's 16 total turnovers.
"It's a lot of pressure on them to take care of the basketball," Hardaway said.Â
Hardaway said the game's starting lineup will most likely be starting lineup as of now heading into the regular season opener, especially with Mike Parks, Jr., a senior forward, still uncertain if he is ready to play. That means the Memphis-made backcourt of Harris and Lomax will get the nod, and he knows that they are undersized but will utilize their strengths.Â
"The teams that we're going to play are going to come in here and try to take advantage of our size, and we just have to use our strengths which is our speed," Hardaway said.
The Tigers were also performing well defensively in the game as they limited CBU to shoot 39.6 percent from the field on 21-53 shooting, and Memphis was able to force 18 steals. Although CBU ended with 68 points, Martin complemented their attack, and he was glad they were able to face a composed offense before the regular season.
"I think it's great for us to see that this early because we may run into a team that runs that same offense but have better athletes," Martin said.
Martin was determined to establish himself as a team leader with a handful of freshmen in the team, two being starters.Â
"Coach (Hardaway) wanted me to be more vocal and a leader," Martin said. "I'm going to do whatever it takes."
The team now looks forward to Tuesday night as they face Tennessee Tech to officially start Hardaway's coaching career. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. at FedEx Forum and will be streamed on ESPN3. Â
