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Barton paces Memphis past Miami-Florida

Dec 7, 2011 - 5:19 AM Coral Gables, FL (Sports Network) - Will Barton scored a game-high 27 points and pulled down 14 rebounds to go with four steals, as No. 21 Memphis downed Miami-Florida, 71-54 on Tuesday.

Chris Crawford and Tarik Black scored nine points each, while Stan Simpson and Joe Jackson donated eight points apiece for the Tigers (5-2), winners of three consecutive games.

Kenny Kadji paced the Hurricanes (5-3) with 12 points and six rebounds, while Trey McKinney Jones and Durand Scott contributed 10 points apiece. Miami has lost three of its last four contests.

Trailing 42-39 midway through the second half, a jumper by Kadji pulled the Hurricanes within one, but Memphis scored the next four points to push out to a five-point advantage, 46-41.

Miami got it down to three, 46-43, with under 8 1/2 minutes to go, but the Tigers used a 13-6 burst over the next three-plus minutes of game time to assume a 10-point advantage, 59-49.

A dunk by Simpson with four minutes to play gave the Tigers another 10-point lead, 61-51, and Jackson sank five straight free throws to push the Tigers' lead to 14 with just over 2 1/2 minutes to play.

Memphis held on down the stretch for the victory.

Miami scored the first seven points of the game to take an early lead, but Memphis clawed back to make it a one-point game with under five minutes gone in the first half.

After Memphis got back into the game, it stayed close for the rest of the half, with the Tigers leading by as many as four before taking a one-point lead, 27-26, into the locker room at halftime.

Game Notes

The Tigers lead the all-time series between the programs by a count of 8-5...Memphis is 66-50 all-time against ACC opponents...Since the 1999-00 campaign, the Tigers are 165-57 against non-conference teams...Memphis dominated inside, netting 42 points in the paint to only 18 for the Hurricanes...The Tigers also outrebounded Miami, 41-33.