Written By: Chad Washington
Fort Worth, TX – The Memphis Tigers are the American Conference Champions. UAB and Memphis faced off Sunday, March 16th at Dickies Arena in the AAC Championship game.
The two teams have interesting paths to this game, respectively. Memphis, the 1 seed in the tournament squeaked by Wichita State in their quarterfinal game, then Rallied behind a Record-Tying 42-point scoring game by PJ Haggerty to beat Tulane in the semis. On the other hand, the 3-seed Blazers had two solid wins in their previous games.
The game was close throughout as no team led by more than 7 until late in the second half. Memphis Dain Dainja went coast-to-coast to give the Tigers a double-digit lead and momentum, this was the early dagger.
Memphis was 24-0 when leading with 5 minutes left in the game and nothing changed here. The Tigers were able to control the clock and come out victorious. They were Led by PJ Haggerty with 21 points and 7 rebounds, and Dain Dainja with 20 points and 11 Rebounds.
It should be noted that Memphis held UAB to 35% from the Field and 26% from downtown, which gave them the edge in this one.
What does this result mean? The Tigers are regular season and tournament champs and will be a solid seed in the big dance as we await the Selection Sunday broadcast.
Photo Via Stu Boyd II-The Commercial Appeal