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Memphis makes short work of Northwestern State

Dec 8, 2013 - 12:48 AM Memphis, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Shaq Goodwin led the way with a career- high 21 points as the No. 16 Memphis Tigers defeated the Northwestern State Demons, 96-76, at FedExForum.

Goodwin was 8-of-11 from the field and added six rebounds and three blocks. Joe Jackson contributed 18 points and Michael Dixon Jr. had 14 for the Tigers (6-1), who have won five straight.

"Just being in the right place at the right time. Coming in the floor, producing energy and working with Austin and the other bigs, we play well together. It make sense, the new sets they are bringing in, it just works well," said Goodwin on his performance.

Jalan West scored a team-high 15 points and nine assists off the bench and DeQuan Hicks tallied 13 points for the Demons (3-4), who have dropped four of their last five.

"I felt like we competed. One area of concern is our three-point defense. We were there on a lot of those [three-point attempts by Memphis], but we just didn't contest the shots well enough," said Northwestern State head coach Mike McConathy.

Memphis shot 53.6 percent from the floor and made 8-of-19 shots from beyond the arc, while Northwestern State made just 40 percent of their field goals and shot an abysmal 16.7 percent (3-for-18) from 3-point range.

Jackson ignited a 8-2 run with a 3-pointer 5 1/2 minutes in. After a free throw and jumper from teammate Austin Nichols followed the shot, Chris Crawford made it 21-11 in Memphis' favor with a layup that forced a Northwestern State timeout at 12:43.

The Tigers kept rolling with a 7-0 run that was highlighted by Goodwin's dunk and Geron Johnson's three that made it 28-16 with 9:22 left in the first half.

Memphis pulled away on a 9-2 run, with Dixon capping it with a jumper from beyond the arc with 4:38 remaining in the period to extend the Tigers lead to 44-26.

Trailing 56-29 at halftime, Northwestern State went on a 7-2 run at the start of the second half. A three from Brison White and two free throws from West to cut the Tigers' lead to 61-40 just over four minutes into the stanza.

A three from Memphis' Nick King made it 82-54 with 7:56 left. After two foul shots from White, Kuran Iverson and Goodwin both came through with dunks to make it a 30-point game with 6:26 remaining.

Game Notes

Since the 2000-01 season, the Tigers have a 29-1 record against NCAA Division I schools from the state of Louisiana ... Memphis leads the all-time series 6-0 ... Memphis had a season-high 27 assists.