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Antonio Burks scored 20 points and assisted on Sean Banks' winning basket with 19 seconds left Monday night as Memphis escaped with a 63-62 victory over Samford.
Banks' 3-pointer with 1:33 remaining completed a comeback for the Tigers (6-2), who trailed by 54-47 with 5:28 remaining.
Burks led the rally by scoring seven of the Tigers' eight points during one streak. Samford's Jerry Smith countered Banks' 3-pointer with one of his own for a 62-61 Bulldogs lead with just over a minute to play.
The Bulldogs (4-5) had a couple of chances to tie or take the lead after Banks' basket on the feed from Burks. But Smith missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 4.6 seconds left, and Samford couldn't get a shot after Banks missed a pair of free throws with 3.5 seconds to play.
Burks was 8 of 12 shots from the field, including 3-of-5 from 3-point range, to lead the Memphis attack. Jeremy Hunt had 11 for the Tigers.
Phillip Ramelli
led Samford with 23 points, shooting 9-of-12 from the field, scoring inside
and out as he connected on a pair of 3-pointers. J. Robert Merritt added 13
for the Bulldogs, including 10 in the first half.
Samford built a 6-point lead in the first half and held on for a 27-26 advantage
at the break. Memphis went 6:22 without scoring as the Bulldogs erased an early
14-5 Tigers lead with 13 straight points.
Merritt had eight points in the streak and Ramelli added five points for an 18-14 lead.
Five straight points by the Tigers at the end of the half cut the lead to one.
Samford took the lead in the second half, scoring nine unanswered points midway through the period as the Tigers again went cold from the field.
Ramelli scored 12 of the Bulldogs' 19 points during one stretch as Samford built the lead before Burks and Banks pulled Memphis ahead in the final five minutes.
Samford finished the game shooting 55 percent from the field, and outrebounded the Tigers 30-22, but was hindered by 17 turnovers.