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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

From the AP "Mustangs Fall to #11 Tigers"

Mustangs Fall To No. 11 Tigers
Ike Ofoegbu pours in 17 points.
Feb. 3, 2007

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -Doneal Mack scored 17 points, and went 5-for-5 on 3-point shots, as No. 11 Memphis remained undefeated in Conference USA with an 88-52 victory over SMU on Saturday.

Memphis finished 15-for-25 on 3-pointers, and the Tigers shot 61 percent.

Memphis (19-3, 9-0) won its 26th consecutive home game, and 11th straight overall. It was the most points allowed by the Mustangs (13-9, 2-6), who entered the game with the conference's best defense against 3-pointers, holding opponents to 31 percent on the season.

Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 15 for Memphis, while Willie Kemp had 11 points and six assists.

Ike Ofoegbu was the only Mustang in double figures, finishing with 17 points. SMU shot 36 percent for the game.

Memphis built its lead midway through the first half when the Tigers began connecting from outside the arc and added drives to the basket. The margin reached double digits about 6 minutes before halftime, and SMU never got close in the second half.

In the first half, Douglas-Roberts scored 13 points, while Mack had 12, hitting all four of his 3-pointers as Memphis took a 46-26 lead. The Tigers shot 54 percent on 7-of-13 shots from outside the arc.

Ofoegbu had 11 points in the first half.

SMU stayed close early as Ofoegbu hit his first four shots and had 11 of the Mustangs' first 14 points. That combined with Memphis initially misfiring over the SMU zone defense allowed the Mustangs to stay close until the midpoint of the first half.

But Memphis got a couple of turnovers off its pressure defense and began connecting from 3-point range to build the lead to 34-21 when Kemp hit a 3-pointer with just under 5 minutes left before halftime.

Douglas-Roberts drove for three baskets, the last capping a 15-2 run as SMU went more than 4 minutes without a field goal. The streak gave Memphis a 38-21 advantage.

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