Memphis loses exhibition game to Division II Christian Brothers
Memphis, chosen to finish third in the American Athletic Conference and an NCAA Tournament participant in 10 of the last 12 years, lost an exhibition game to Christian Brothers, 74-70 in overtime, on Wednesday. Christian Brothers is a Division II school located just minutes from the Tigers' campus.
Though city bragging rights now can go to Christian Brothers, the fact that the game was an exhibition means the result won't go down as a loss on Memphis' ledger. Memphis opens its regular season with a game against Missouri Valley Conference power Wichita State in South Dakota on Tuesday.
"First off, full credit goes to Christian Brothers," Tigers coach Josh Pastner told reporters. "(Christian Brothers coach) Mike (Nienaber) does a great job. They play great, so full credit goes to Christian Brothers. Secondly, there are a lot of things we got to continue to get better, but we're going to be a good team. I know we're going to be a good team. It's going to take some time, there's going to be some highs and lows through it. We've got some things we need to clean up, and we will clean up."
Memphis led just 32-31 at halftime and built a 9-point second-half lead before CBU rallied to tie it to close regulation. CBU's Casey King attempted a 3-pointer that would have won the game for the Buccaneers in regulation, but his shot was no good.
Christian Brothers took the lead early in overtime before an Austin Nichols jumper tied the game at 67 with just over one minute left. However, Drew Hildreth's 3-pointer gave the Buccaneers a lead they would not relinquish.
"We lost. They beat us," Tigers forward Shaq Goodwin told reporters. "They outplayed us. It was unexpected of the team and me. They just came out and outplayed us pretty much throughout regulation and overtime."
