Dain Dainja scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading No. 19 Memphis to a 68-56 win over Tulane on Thursday night in New Orleans.
PJ Carter and Colby Rogers added 14 points each for the Tigers (17-4, 7-1 American Athletic Conference), who won their fourth straight game and their eighth out of the last nine.
Rowan Brumbaugh scored 19 points, and Kaleb Banks added 14 for the Green Wave (11-10, 5-3).
Tyrese Hunter’s jumper opened the second half, increasing the Tigers’ lead to 31-26. Memphis led by five again, but Banks made a layup, Mari Jordan dunked, and Percy Daniels added a layup, putting Tulane up 34-33.
Tulane extended the lead to four points twice before Carter’s 3-pointer and Dainja’s jumper put Memphis ahead 43-42. The lead changed four more times before Rogers hit a 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 51-46 lead.
Brumbaugh made two of three free throws, but Memphis pushed its lead to seven twice. Two free throws by Brumbaugh and a layup by Banks brought the Green Wave within three, but Rogers answered with a 3-pointer.
Banks made one of two free throws before Dainja hit a jumper, Rogers added another 3-pointer, and Haggerty made two free throws, putting Memphis up 66-54 with 1:30 left.
Dainja had two layups to help Memphis score the first six points of the game. Tulane took its first lead, 9-8, with a 3-pointer by Asher Woods.
The lead changed three more times, and the score was tied at 17 before Brumbaugh’s 3-pointer gave the Green Wave the lead. Hunter answered with a tying 3-pointer, but Brumbaugh hit a jumper and a layup, and Tyler Ringgold added a layup, giving Tulane a 26-20 lead.
Carter’s 3-pointer ended a nearly four-minute scoring drought for Memphis. Nicholas Jourdain, Dainja, and PJ Haggerty followed with consecutive layups to give the Tigers a 29-26 lead at halftime.
