MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Ezra Manjon scored 22 points to lead Vanderbilt but his last second three-pointer bounced off the rim as No. 23 Memphis survived the Commodores’ upset bid, 77-75, on Saturday in FedEx Forum.
Manjon was one of four Commodores (4-8) in double figures with Tasos Kamateros, Tyrin Lawrence and Jason Rivera-Torres each scoring 12 in the game. The dozen points for Rivera-Torres matches the freshman’s season-best.
Memphis (10-2) was paced by 28 points from David Jones while Jahvon Quinerly added 13 for the Tigers.
Vanderbilt held the lead for 20:34 in the game and led by as many as eight with 8:21 to play in the game. The Tigers scored 12 unanswered to turn the deficit into a 66-62 lead. Down 77-75 with 3.3 seconds to play, the Commodores three-point attempt for the win clanged off the front iron as Memphis escaped.
The Commodores outshot the Tigers 42.9 percent to 38.2 percent from the floor and outrebounded Memphis 39-32. The Tigers, however, made up the shooting differential at the charity stripe, knocking down 26-of-35 free throws. Memphis also took advantage of 17 Vanderbilt turnovers to score 18 points.
Vanderbilt returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 30, against Dartmouth in a 4 p.m. tip at Memorial Gymnasium.