PJ Haggerty, Dain Dainja and No. 16 Memphis win AAC tourney with a 84-72 win over UAB
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — PJ Haggerty scored 23 points, Dain Dainja had another double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds and 16th-ranked Memphis won the American Athletic Conference tournament with an 84-72 win over UAB on Sunday.
Haggerty put the Tigers (29-5) ahead to stay with his tiebreaking bankshot with 16:10 left. The AAC player of the year later had a 17-second span when he drove the baseline for another shot off the glass, then had a steal that led to his fastbreak ending with a three-point play.
Memphis was already a lock to make the NCAA Tournament for the 29th time, and the third time in the past four seasons for seventh-year coach Penny Hardaway, who as a player for the Tigers was part of the 1992 and 1993 tournaments.
Yaxel Lendeborg had 19 points and 17 rebounds for the Blazers (22-12), last year's AAC tournament champion who had to win the game that ended less than a half-hour before the Selection Show to get back to the NCAA Tournament. Efrem Johnson had 17 points.
Lendeborg's 23rd double-double matched Stanford's Maxime Raynaud for the most this season.
Dainja had his fifth double-double in eight games. Colby Rogers added 15 points for Memphis and Moussa Cisse had 14 rebounds.
It was a battle inside all day between 6-foot-9 standouts Lendeborg and Dainja.
Lendeborg was trying to make a shot early in the second half and took a slap to the face when both of the big men were in the air. The foul was reviewed and upgraded to a flagrant foul.
After Lendeborg's two free throws tied the game at 39-all with 16:54 left, the Blazers maintained possession and Alejandro Vasquez made a go-ahead layup. That was their last lead.
Dainja then had the tying layup before Haggerty put Memphis ahead.
Missing points
Memphis played without its top two point guards. Starter Tyrese Hunter got hurt in the second half of Saturday's semifinal win over Tulane and was on the bench with a boot on his left foot. Dante Harris hasn't played since suffering a high ankle sprain March 4. Their status for the NCAA Tournament was uncertain. Baraka Okojie, a sophomore transfer from George Mason, got his first start with the Tigers and opened the game with a 3-pointer on his only shot of the game.
Takeaways
UAB: The Blazers have won at least 22 games in each of coach Andy Kennedy's five seasons at his alma mater.
Memphis: The Tigers, AAC regular-season champions for the first time, won the tournament for the second time in three seasons.
Farewell to Fort Worth
The AAC tournament ended a five-year run at Dickies Arena, where it was first supposed to be played in 2020 before being canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The league hopes to announce its next site before this year's NCAA Final Four. The finalists are home cities of AAC members: Memphis, Tennessee; Wichita, Kansas; Birmingham, Alabama; and Tampa, Florida.
Up next
Memphis takes an eight-game winning streak into the NCAA, and UAB likely will play in a different postseason tournament.
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