Dain Dainja scores career-best 25 and No. 18 Memphis uses late run to beat Rice 84-72

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Dain Dainja scored a career-best 25 points and had 10 rebounds, and No. 18 Memphis used a late 10-0 run to beat Rice 84-72 on Wednesday night.

PJ Haggerty added 21 points for Memphis (23-5, 13-2 American Athletic Conference), and Nicholas Jourdan finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. The Tigers have won 10 of 11.

Caden Powell Led Rice (13-16, 4-12) with 19 points and seven rebounds. Denver Anglin scored 14 points and Andrew Akuchie had 12.

Memphis stayed atop the AAC standings, 1 1/2 games ahead of North Texas and UAB, both of which play Thursday night — the Mean Green at Florida Atlantic and the Blazers at Wichita State.

Takeaways

Rice: While Rice had lost 11 of 13 coming into the game, only one of its previous 10 defeats was by double digits (Tulane on Jan. 25), and its average margin of defeat in those games was 4.3 points.

Memphis: The Tigers struggled to put away the Owls until asserting themselves in the final minutes.

Key moment

With 3:52 left, Rice's Kellen Amos fed Caden Powell for a dunk that tied the game at 70-all. Memphis responded with its 10-0 run, including baskets by Haggerty and Dainja, who scored 18 second-half points. Dainja also had two blocks in one Rice possession during the spurt.

Key stat

Neither team shot well from 3-point range. Memphis made one of its seven 3-point attempts in the first half, allowing Rice to keep it close, and finished 2 of 13 beyond the arc. Rice was 5 of 21 on 3s.

Up next

Both teams play road games on Sunday. Rice visits UTSA, while Memphis plays at UAB.

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