ACC Championship Rd 2: Wichita St 71 – Memphis 65
In what turned out to be a battle that left fans on the edge of their seats until the last moments, Wichita St came out and put on a spirited effort, finishing off Memphis in the final minutes and winning 71-65 in round 2 of the AAC tournament.
The story for Memphis once again was 2 players in David Jones and Nae’Qwan Tomlin leading the way scoring 18 and 24 respectively, but not getting help from their supporting cast. Wichita St. on the other hand, had 5 players score 8+ and had multiple runs during the game where a variety of players were featured. After the game, Wichita State Coach Paul Mills mentioned how everyone stepped up tonight and that his team expects to win in these types of games.
“It’s that time of the year, it wasn’t a good win, it wasn’t an ugly win, it was an expected win. We had guys who come in here and expect to win this time of year… everyone in our locker showed up. You win 1 game… but everyone is here to do the same thing and that’s win a championship and we’re not even halfway there,” Coach Mills said after the game.
Neither side was willing to give in early, as the back-and-forth affair was in motion almost instantly. Both Memphis & Wichita State were getting balanced scoring early, 4 players scored on each side and with 13:27 to play it was knotted up 14 a piece.
Both sides were going at it and the lead held at single digits until Jahvon Quinerly hit a triple to put Memphis up 23-19 with 10:10 to play.
Wichita State was quick to respond and held momentum for the rest of the first half. The Shocks got scoring from 4 different players, and a Kenny Pohto layup off a turnover tied it up at 28, with 3:54 to play.
Harland Beverly split a pair of free throws, and 4 straight points from Pohto later, Wichita State held their biggest lead of the half, 33-28 with 2:15 to play.
Memphis scored 5 straight quickly to tie, but Xavier Bell scored right before the half ended on a fast break layup, and Wichita State went into the break leading 35-33, and with a boatload of momentum.
Memphis was leading the stat sheet in rebounds, assists, and steals at half, but it wasn’t translating momentum wise and there was just a feeling in the building at half that the Shocks were in control.
One thing that did translate was Wichita States’ momentum, into the second half. The Shocks started the second half on a 9-0 run, behind once again, baskets from 4 different players. Ballard had an emphatic jam with 16:17 to play and that put Wichita State up double digits for the first time, 44-33 which forced Memphis into a timeout.
Memphis came out of that timeout with an and-1 from David Jones knocking the lead down to 44-36 with 15:54 to play, however Wichita State was feeding off energy and wasn’t backing down. Harlond Beverly scored the next 5 for Wichita State adding a triple and an alley-Oop conversion, and Ronnie Degray scored off a turnover and the lead was quickly back up to 13, 51-38 with 12:42 to play.
Memphis got a bit of a boost from Jordan Brown, who provided some physicality and 4 straight off the bench, Nae’Qwan Tomlin followed his 4 up with a triple of his own and the lead was cut to 55-48 with 8:53 to play.
Wichita State was struggling from the field, failing to make a basket from the 10:05 mark until 3:08 but the game hovered around a 6–8-point deficit for Memphis, that was until David Jones went to work. He hit back-to-back triples, his second brought it to a 1-point deficit, 57-56 shockers and the momentum completely flipped in favor of Wichita State.
Jones was fouled on the next possession, he hit both free throws, and for the first time since 5:37 in the first half Memphis led 58-57, but the Shocks weren’t done yet.
Quincy Ballard converted on an Alley-Oop on the next possession, on the one after that Colby Rodgers hit a triple, and then Ronnie Degray converted on a layup off a turnover to make it 64-58 with 1:33 to play. All of a sudden momentum flipped, and it looked like Memphis would need a spark over the final minute and change. Wichita State has been battle tested all year, and Coach Mills said those battles are what the team looks back on in close situations.
“I think you can circle that, and the reality of those situations is you have to go through difficulties, you have to understand. There is a bible verse in James, the testing of your faith produces something in you. The reality about us is, our clutch record is 2-10 in the league, and we have to go through those adversities and clean things up,” Coach Mills said.
That spark never came, as Harlond Bell scored 5 straight for Wichita State, putting them up 69-62 with 17 seconds left and the Shocks were never looking back.
Bijan Cortes iced it on 2 late free throws, and the Shockers closed the door on the tumultuous Tigers, winning by a final of 71-65. After the game, Coach Mills explained that at no point in the game did the team give up, and that they just had to keep trusting their shots.
“We don’t have the stats that you guys have, go 3 minutes without scoring, we don’t think about that. All you’re doing is thinking about the quality of shots and I think we had them. I just told the guys, keep taking those and we’re gonna make them. Those are shots you can’t pass up… they were quality shots and at the end you trust your guys” Coach Mills said after the game.
Wichita State will be back in action tomorrow on ESPN 2 at 3 pm EST against the 4 seed, UAB.