Saint Mary’s came off a strong performance against Middle Tennessee State looking like a team prepared to make a run in the tournament. Unfortunately for the Gaels, they could not get past the superior athleticism of the Memphis Tigers, who won the game 54-52.

The Gaels continued to fight and scrap until the end, closing the gap to 5 points when Eividas Petrulis nailed a 3 pointer with 3 seconds left. The Gaels were then able to force a turnover with Memphis knocking the ball out of bounds thanks to incredible defense by Saint Mary’s.

With just under 2 seconds left, the Gaels found Matthew Dellavedova for a last minute shot that went long.

A 32-22 lead at halftime by the Tigers was made possible by a 13-2 run to close the first 20 minutes. Memphis, however, was intent on maintaining the lead and came out strong out of the gate in the second half.

The incredible effort of Saint Mary’s was enough to close the gap but not enough for the win.

Part of the success for the Tigers came in their ability to hold Gaels star Dellavedova to 10 points. The Senior guard averaged 16 ppg throughout the season.

As they have all season, Memphis relied on a balanced approach, but it was leading scorer Joe Jackson (13.6 ppg) who led the charge with 14 points. Adonis Thomas and Tarik Black each added 12 points for the Tigers.

Memphis will proceed to the Round of 32 to face a Michigan State team that looked stronger than the Tigers on Thursday. Our analysis would indicate that the Spartans should be favored here.