With Dayton leading 58-56 with 6:31 to play, the Memphis Tigers closed the game on a 15-2 run, including holding the Flyers scoreless for the final 2:12, and captured a 71-60 win in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament Saturday in Denton, Texas.
The top-seeded Tigers (17-8) advance to play second-seeded Boise State in the NIT quarterfinals Thursday. The game at UNT Coliseum in Denton is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.
Landers Nolley II led the Tigers with 21 points, and he also had six rebounds and five assists. Lester Quinones notched a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, with all 15 of his points coming in 16 minutes of second-half action. Quinones went 5-for-5 from the floor and made all three of his 3-point tries in the second half.
Six of Quinones' 10 rebounds in the game came on the offensive end.
DeAndre Williams and D.J. Jeffries were also in double figures for Memphis with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Jeffries also had five assists.
The fourth-seeded Flyers (14-10) held Memphis without a field goal for the final 2:39 of the first half and led 28-27 at intermission. Dayton came out firing to start the second half, scoring six-straight points, before the Tigers went on a 16-3 run and led 43-37 with just over four minutes gone by.
In a second half that had seven lead changes in the middle minutes, the Flyers grabbed a 58-56 lead on a Elijah Weaver triple with slightly under seven minutes left in the game. But the Tigers responded by rattling off 10-straight points, including back-to-back 3s by Boogie Ellis and Quinones, and took a 66-58 lead with 4:09 remaining.
After a Dayton jumper, its only make in its final 10 shots of the game, the Tigers scored the final five points of the game to bring it to a close at 71-60.
Memphis shot 58.6 percent in the second half (17-29) and made seven of its 11 3-point tries after the break.
The Tigers had 18 assists on their 28 field goals in the game and went 10-of-26 from long range.
Memphis dominated Dayton on the boards, 44-26, and allowed the Flyers just two offensive rebounds.
The Tigers held Dayton's leading scorer, Memphis native and Ridgeway High School alum Jalen Crutcher, to just six points.