RALEIGH, N.C. — It was a clean look, a clean shot, but a heart-breaking miss. When George Washington guard Maurice Creek let fly a shot from 3-point range with three seconds left Friday, it looked as if the Colonials might force a tie with Memphis.
But the ball missed badly, the Tigers got the rebound and went on to a 71-66 victory in an East Regional game Friday night at the PNC Arena. If Creek’s shot had been good, it would have tied the game at 69-all.
“I caught the ball cleanly and it didn’t fall,” said Creek, who scored nine points on 2-of-13 shooting. “I felt like I got a great look — the best look I was going to get — and it just didn’t fall.”
Eighth-seeded Memphis (24-9) survived to advance to face the winner between top-seeded Virginia and 16th-seed Coastal Carolina. The Tigers got 19 points from Michael Dixon Jr. and 15 from Joe Jackson. Ninth-seeded GW ends its season at 24-9.
The Memphis bench outscored the GW bench 25-3.
“That’s a big stat right there,” Colonials coach Mike Lonergan said. “We were limited and they did a good job of exposing some of our weakness.”
Memphis led 31-26 at the half despite shooting only 35.5 percent from the field. The Colonials trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half, and by nine with 3:56 to play. But they closed the deficit to 67-66 on a layup by Joe McDonald with 25 seconds left. After two free throws by Michael Dixon put the Tigers up by three, Creek missed his chance to be a hero.
“We made shots and we were tough,” Memphis coach Josh Pastner said. “It is a possession by possession game. George Washington is a good team, but we held our poise and we found a way to win. This is a players’ game and players made plays.”
Pastner had said before the game that making 3-pointers would be the key. The Tigers made 6-of-22, while GW hit on 2-of-12 from behind the arc.
“We just tried to keep attacking,” Jackson said. “We got some steals and we got some rebounds. We just wanted to get out on the break and get to the basket.”
The win was a confidence builder for Memphis, which was destroyed by Connecticut, 72-53, in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
“The UConn game helped us,” Pastner insisted. “It gave us an opportunity to learn from our past mistakes.”