Memphis 66, Tulane 61

Published Mar. 6, 2011 12:52 a.m. ET

foxsports

Tarik Black had career highs with 24 points and 11 rebounds, and Memphis survived the 3-point shooting of Tulane to defeat the Green Wave 66-61 on Saturday.

Black's dunk with 3 seconds left assured Memphis (22-9, 10-6 Conference USA) of a bye in the first round of the conference tournament next week.

Black was 9 of 12 from the field. Will Barton added 15 for the Tigers, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Johnny Mayhane led the Green Wave (13-16, 3-13) with 15 points, including 5 of 7 from outside the arc as Tulane shot 50 percent (9 of 18) from 3-point range.

Kendall Timmons finished with 14 for Tulane and Jordan Callahan and David Booker scored 11 apiece.

The Green Wave have lost 13 of their past 14 and dropped their 19th straight in the series with Memphis.

Tulane led much of the game, but Black's inside play kept Memphis close, as 15 of his points came in the second half.

Timmons' inside bucket in the final seconds of the first half gave the Green Wave a 31-29 lead heading to the locker room.

Neither team had a player in double figures at the break. Booker missed only one of his five shots to reach nine first-half points for Tulane.

Black was perfect on four shots, also scoring nine points to lead Memphis.

Tulane led by as many as eight points before halftime. Memphis seemed to be going through the motions as the Green Wave built the advantage, hitting 10 of their first 15 shots from the field.

Memphis worked the ball inside to Black to eventually pull even on two occasions, but couldn't overtake Tulane before halftime.

Tulane continued to be successful from long-range after halftime, hitting its first four 3-pointers in the half.

Meanwhile, Memphis continued to rely on Black's inside presence.

The Tigers' first lead didn't come until Barton's dunk on a break with 14:45 left in the game made the score 42-40.

Timmons scored six straight Tulane points, part of a 10-2 run by the Green Wave for a 53-46 lead. Memphis then countered with seven straight to tie it at 53 with just more than 6 minutes left.

Memphis took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Chris Crawford with 4:26 left.