Jahvon Quinerly connected on a 3-pointer with three seconds left, part of his 11 points in the game, to complete a comeback for No. 15 Memphis as the Tigers defeated SMU 62-59 on Sunday.
David Jones led the Tigers with 17 points and Jaykwon Walton added 10 as Memphis (13-2, 2-0 American Athletic Conference) won its eighth straight.
Tyreek Smith led SMU (10-5, 1-1) with 12 points and seven rebounds as the Mustangs saw their four-game winning streak end.
It marked the second straight game where Quinerly hit the winning basket in the closing seconds. His 3-pointer at Tulsa with four seconds remaining resulted in a 78-75 victory earlier this week.
Memphis, which played poorly in the first half, used a 17-5 run opening the second half to pull even. The Tigers eventually built a six-point lead. Tied with two minutes remaining, both teams had blocks down the stretch, including Nick Jourdain of Memphis blocking Smith at the rim leading to a jump ball with 12 seconds remaining.
Both teams have dealt with close games this season. Only one of the Mustangs four losses was by double digits — to Texas A&M 79-66 on Nov. 14. Two of their losses — to Arizona State and Dayton — were by two points.
Meanwhile, Memphis has survived two close games recently.
The SMU defense forced the Tigers into turnovers and kept Memphis' shooting under 40% for much of the first half. While the Mustangs weren't putting up a lot of points, they were crashing the boards outrebounding Memphis 25-9.
All of that and a lackadaisical approach by Memphis translated into a 15-point lead for SMU, which carried a 36-24 advantage into the break.