• Season: 1995-96
• Date: Thursday, January 4, 1996
• Opponent: Memphis
• Start Time: 9:00 PM ET
• Site: Worcester Centrum, Worcester MA
• Special Event: Busch Atlantic 10 / Conference USA Challenge
• Television: ESPN
• Radio: WHMP

• Result: UMass (#1) 64, Memphis (#3) 61
• Attendance: 13,557

Coach Calipari is No. 1, too
National college basketball
By Mark Blaudschun, The Boston Globe Staff, 1/2/1996

Let it be said, as we start a new year and continue what has been a marvelous college basketball season, that no one in the country has done a better coaching job than John Calipari.

The University of Massachusetts entered 1996 undefeated (10-0) and ranked No. 1. That's in the country, not just the Atlantic 10, which is what they have been on top of for most of this decade.

After beating Syracuse Saturday night/Sunday morning, 65-47, the Minutemen had swept through the Rainbow Classic field the way they have beaten everyone this season – with relative ease. And this was with Marcus Camby playing on a sore knee. Not that you could tell from his 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals.

“No one has contained us in 11 games,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who watched his team lose for the first time, falling to 11-1. “That's the best defensive team I've seen in a long time.”

And you got the feeling that if Camby had not played, UMass would have found a way to win.

While one could say the difference was Camby, it may have been Calipari. Watching the Minutemen set screens, make passes and play defense – they had 14 steals and caused 24 turnovers – one saw a team that was winning the old- fashioned way, with fundamentals.

And that is coaching. Calipari may irritate some with his slick style. Other people may say the Minutemen are cutting corners. Please. The academic flap from last year has gone away, and in an era when athletes seem to be making the police blotter as often as they do jump shots, UMass has made headlines with its basketball skills.

Calipari lost his captain, Lou Roe. He lost his main point guard, Derek Kellogg. Yet the Minutemen have not missed a step. They have beaten the best teams in the country and done it with remarkable ease. Simply amazing.

No one expects UMass to go unbeaten. The season is too long, and there are too many opportunities to have an off night at some hostile arena against tough competition. Coach Cal has scheduled a breather for his team Thursday at the Worcester Centrum – unbeaten and third-ranked Memphis.

Such scheduling may seem suicidal for a lesser team or a lesser coach. But Calipari has used it to his advantage. The Minutemen now are as tournament-tough as any team in the country.

Imagine. Kentucky. Maryland. Wake Forest. Syracuse. North Carolina State. The Minutemen are an equal-opportunity team. They have taken on the best conferences in the country and come out on top.

When Calipari first took over UMass, he scheduled tough games to get name recognition. He doesn't need to do that anymore. In fact, he could have scheduled Cupcake U throughout December, and no one would have really said anything. UMass has paid its dues.

Right now, no one can argue that UMass is not the best team in the country. And if there is a better coach than Calipari, I want to see him.

Travieso's effort is still unflagging
By Frank Dell'Apa, The Boston Globe Staff, 1/3/1996

AMHERST – Carmelo Travieso is about to confront a difficult decision concerning his identity. It will be different from the choices faced by most 20-year-old collegians, different even from the decisions of other high-profile athletes.

Travieso is not a stereotypical collegiate sports star. Having been born in Puerto Rico of Dominican parents, he soon will have to declare a national team. The Dominican Republic did not qualify in basketball for the Olympic Games, so Travieso's practical pick would be Puerto Rico. Not only could he play in Atlanta this year, he also could do so in the Puerto Rican backcourt with University of Massachusetts teammate Edgar Padilla.

However, this being a modern, multicultural society, things are not so simple.

“My blood is Dominican,” Travieso said yesterday as top-ranked UMass prepared for tomorrow's game against No. 3 Memphis in Worcester. “There was never any question about it.

“I was born in Puerto Rico and raised in America. I prefer Spanish food and I'm more comfortable with English and English music than Spanish. I'm versatile. But this is a lifetime decision. It's a question of what nationality I am. My family wants me to play for the Dominican Republic and I feel strongly that I should.”

Though Travieso leaves little doubt about his affinity for his family's homeland, he is tempted to investigate the alternatives. And until he actually plays in an official contest for a national team, his options are open.

“I was invited to try out for both teams,” he said. “What I will probably do is try out with Puerto Rico – for the experience, since they qualified for the Olympics. That does not mean I have to play for them or that I can't play for the Dominican Republic.

“But I would love to play in the Olympics. It's a chance to play against the best players in the world.

Until recently, Travieso was not in such demand. Though he was playing for a highly rated college team, he was a low-profile role player, less an all- around player than a shooting specialist.

“Carmelo saw himself as a shooter, so he didn't guard anybody,” UMass coach John Calipari said. “He used to say to the other guy to go ahead and score and then I'll get a shot quicker.

“Two years ago, I told him if he didn't cover anybody, he would not play here.”

Travieso apparently convinced his coach. He has started all 10 games for UMass this season, and after he was named to the all-tournament team in the Rainbow Classic last week, his profile is changing.

“Both guards are doing all the little things that people who don't know basketball might not see,” Calipari said. “You can't go just by how many points someone scored. They are doing the things we need to do to succeed, both on offense and defense.”

The UMass backcourt was surprisingly effective defensively against Syracuse during a 65-47 win in the championship game in Hawaii.

“In that game, I said to myself, 'I can take the ball away from this kid,' ” Travieso said. “I decided to go ahead and try to get my hand on a couple of balls. And it worked.

“That's what we do in practice. The coaches tell us that if we think we can do it, go ahead.”

The UMass players credit their practice sessions with fueling their intensity during games. But Travieso's experience on the AAU level, when he played for the Boston Amateur Basketball Club, was similarly grueling, and with far fewer timeouts to recover.

“With BABC, we pressed and pressed the whole game,” he said. “And sometimes we would drive to a tournament in Pennsylvania and play five games in a day.

“I've played that way my whole life. It's the same in Puerto Rico – it's a little faster than the game here, with every team playing 100 m.p.h. and a lot of good guards.”

That pressing, free-lance style differs from the current UMass game. The Minutemen present a more anaerobic approach, with most of their contests divided into segments lasting a few seconds to a couple of minutes because of television breaks.

This has placed Travieso under a harsher light, since his game breaks down into individual battles, often against guards with greater reputations. He has adapted quite well.

“We've always been underdogs,” Travieso said. “When we were playing for BABC, no one knew who we were and we would beat them by 30 or 40 points. Now when they see me and Edgar, they say the same thing. Then if we go out and win, we walk out the same way we walked in.

“I'm being asked to do things I've never been asked to do – play the point, guard bigger guys, go in and rebound. You never know what you can do until you try.”

UMass doesn't like to rest on its laurels
By Michael Holley, The Boston Globe Staff, 1/4/1996

AMHERST – He wanted to know if they thought he was well. So he asked them during a Tuesday afternoon practice, “Am I crazy for putting you guys through this or what? Do you think I'm crazy?”

Seconds after John Calipari spoke those words, many of his University of Massachusetts basketball players began laughing. “At first, some of us were like, 'Yeah, you are crazy,' ” Carmelo Travieso said. But then they could have thought of the old grade-school logic game: If the coach is crazy, what does that make them?

Not even a week ago, they were in Honolulu playing in the Rainbow Classic. They left there on the afternoon of New Year's Eve, took a six-hour flight to Los Angeles, took a four-hour flight to Cleveland and followed that with a virtual across-the-pond trip to Hartford. After that, of course, was the little skip up Interstate 91 to Amherst on New Year's Day.

Still not enough for these guys. They wanted to practice the day after they returned here. They are not tired. They want to play tonight against No. 3 Memphis at the Worcester Centrum. Their 10 nonconference foes have included Kentucky, Maryland, Wake Forest, Boston College, Georgia Tech and Syracuse.

They . . . he . . . somebody is crazy. They also are 10-0, ranked No. 1 in the country.

“Our practices are like football practices,” Donta Bright said. “A couple guys get cut. A couple guys get stitches. When we go back and take showers, guys say, 'Man, you bruised me up.' ”

Travieso chipped in, “We go at it in practice.”

“Brutal,” added assistant coach James (Bruiser) Flint.

These are not just words. Bright, a 6-foot-6-inch, 223-pound forward, looks as if he has been playing football. When he is done with Calipari's 2 1/2-hour practices, he shoots 100 times (jumpers and free throws) and then goes to the weight room for another hour.

Tired? Nah. As he was talking with a radio station's hosts during a telephone interview, Bright couldn't keep still. He fidgeted with a basketball, anxious for the five-minute conversation to end. Just before his radio interview was over, he showed that he knows much more than running. He slyly mentioned that he thinks Kentucky and Memphis are the best teams in the country.

Travieso swears no one is tired. But you should consider the source. He averages a team-high 37.4 minutes per game. Yesterday he was trying to recount his performance during the Hawaii trip.

“Well, I think I played 40 minutes against Syracuse. I know I played 40 the first game, against North Carolina State. The other game? USC. I'm not . . . I played 40 against them, too. I'm guess I'm 40 for 40.”

He said this with a smile. A few minutes later, he stepped on the Mullins Center court and began leading the team in stretching exercises.

“When people say they are tired, a lot of times they let their mind tell them that,” Travieso said. “We had a little jet lag, but we're over it.”

That is not the way Bill Strickland sees it. The UMass media relations director also made the trip to Hawaii. And he did not play in the games. But when he returned to campus, he didn't have to search for the appropriate word. ''Exhausted,” he said. Not exhausted enough to comment on the impressive UMass practice The Day After.

Flint also was at the Jan. 2 practice. He, Calipari, John Robic and Ed Schilling are supposed to be the directors of these football practices. But during practice, Flint felt himself getting a little woozy. The head was nodding. Eyes were fluttering. The Minutemen were running. Like always.

Guess we shouldn't be surprised by this. Of the 10 UMass games, eight have been on neutral courts. They love these challenges. On the back side of their practice shorts is a phrase that was sung by the hip-hop group Public Enemy: “Refuse to Lose.” They take the phrase seriously.

“We've got to come out hyped tonight,” Bright said. “This is what it's all about. We like playing on national TV. We like playing in front of big crowds. We like playing against the good teams.

“When Coach asked us if he was crazy, I laughed. I know he's trying to see where we are at this point in the season compared with other teams. Now we get to find out.”

Along the way, they've had their challenges. Marcus Camby bruised a knee in Hawaii, but quickly came back against Syracuse to score 20 points and secure 11 rebounds. He practiced yesterday and is expected to start against the Tigers. The Minutemen already have survived the back-to-back test, winning games Dec. 28, 29 and 30. Now, two days before their Atlantic 10 opener with Dayton, they meet the No. 3 team in the country.

It won't be easy. Memphis guard Mingo Johnson and center Lorenzen Wright both average 17 points per game. Wright will lead all players on the floor tonight with a rebound average of 11.8. Memphis is 8-0 and it is very, very good.

Bright said he can't wait until the ball is tossed in the air, signaling the game to begin. Both teams will have driven through drifting snow to play the game. You can guarantee that one of those teams won't say anything about being tired.

#1 Massachusetts 64, #3 Memphis 61
From The Associated Press, 1/4/1996

Marcus Camby scored 23 points and Edgar Padilla made two free throws and a key block in the final 30 seconds as top-ranked Massachusetts edged third-ranked Memphis, 64-61, in the Atlantic 10-Conference U-S-A Challenge in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Donta Bright scored 15 points and Carmelo Travieso added 13 for the Minutemen (11-0), who blew a 16-point first-half lead but rallied down the stretch to hold onto their top ranking.

“We got up big but this is a great team that was going to make its run,” camby said. “Fortunately Donta and our guards made big plays down the stretch. I feel we have the best guards in the country. Tonight was an indication of that.”

Lorenzen Wright scored 17 points and Mingo Johnson added 12 for the Tigers (8-1), whose loss left just five unbeaten teams in Division I.

A jumper by Johnson gave Memphis its last lead at 59-58 with 1:16 left. But Massachusetts took the lead for good 10 seconds later on a jumper by Bright.

Padilla, who was questionable until game time with a stomach virus, sank two free throws with 30 seconds left for a 62-59 edge. On the next possession, Padilla recovered after losing Johnson off the dribble and partially blocked his potential game-tying three-pointer.

Camby grabbed the loose ball and was fouled with 13 seconds left. He made both free throws for a five-point cushion and Wright added a basket with three seconds left for the final margin.

Massachusetts won despite an 18-hour sojourn in returning from Hawaii, where it won the Rainbow Classic last weekend.

“I think the only person suffering from jet lag today was the head coach,” Minutemen coach John Calipari said. “My players picked me up and won this game in spite of some of my moves in the first half.”

A layup by Chris Garner gave Memphis a 50-47 lead with 8:39 to go, but Camby had four points and Travieso made a three-pointer in a 7-0 run that gave Massachusetts a 54-50 bulge with 5:57 remaining.

“Obviously we played a very good team tonight,” Memphis coach Larry Finch said. “They showed why they're number one in the country. They forced us into some uncharacteristic turnovers, especially when we were up 50-47. We turned the ball over and I think that turned the tide.”

Cedric Henderson scored 10 points and Wright had nine rebounds for Memphis, which shot 42 per cent (27-of-64) from the field and held a 30-28 edge in rebounds.

“Marcus Camby is a very athletic player, but as I've said all along, how I did against him personally doesn't matter, especially since we lost the game,” Wright said.

Padilla had seven assists for Massachusetts, which shot 41 per cent (20-of-49) but held a huge advantage at the foul line. The Minutemen made 20-of-28 free throws while the Tigers made just 5-of-10.

The Minutemen scored the first nine points and opened a 16-point lead on three occasions, the last time at 31-15 on a pair of free throws by Dana Dingle with 6:14 left in the first half.

Massachusetts still led 35-22 when Memphis went on a 14-0 spurt that carried into the second half. Johnson scored seven points and Wright added four, including a basket that gave the Tigers their first lead at 36-35 with 17:18 left.

“I just tried to get too cute at the end of the half and we played very tentative into the break,” Calipari said. “Marcus Camby picked us up as Marcus usually does, but Donta Bright, Dana Dingle and Carmelo Travieso came through in key situations down the stretch.”

UMass hits the clutch
By Michael Holley, The Boston Globe Staff, 1/5/1996

WORCESTER – They are good at this poll stuff. Especially when it has to do with No. 1 vs. No. 3. The last time the University of Massachusetts basketball team was involved in a 1-3 game, it beat top-ranked Arkansas in the 1994 opener.

Last night? It was the top-ranked Minutemen's first game of 1996. No. 3 Memphis was at the Centrum, and the Tigers left with a loss. The final: UMass 64, Memphis 61.

You can talk about UMass blowing a 15-point lead and looking sloppy at times, but the unbeaten Minutemen secured their 11th win on a rough nonconference schedule.

It was in the second half that Memphis (8-1) showed the 13,557 fans here why it is ranked third in the country. The Tigers began the game sluggishly, looking like an overrated Conference USA team. But for the last six minutes of the first half and first eight of the second, they played like they were the No. 1 team in the country.

With 12 minutes remaining, they were tied with UMass (43-43). Four minutes later, they led, 50-47, on a Chris Garner hoop. Many of the Minutemen's previous 10 opponents had bowed in the game's last 10 minutes. But the Tigers attacked UMass. They did it with the players John Calipari saying, “I told the guys after the game that they really bailed me out tonight. There was only one guy with jet lag, and it was me. They bailed me out.”

He was talking about the first half. UMass scored the first 9 points and had a 25-9 lead with nine minutes remaining. It took the Tigers 17 hours to get from Memphis to Worcester because of the snow, and they were playing like guys who hadn't seen enough of the Holiday Inn.

But they gave everyone a preview of what was to come in the last eight minutes of the half, putting together a 15-6 run. UMass led by 5, 35-30, and Calipari took the blame.

“I was trying to be cute,” he said. “I was trying to go into the half with as big a lead as possible, and you can't coach that way.”

Rather, you have to coach the way Finch and Calipari did in the second half: They let their teams play. Memphis took a 36-35 lead three minutes into the second half. From that point on, no team had more than a 4-point advantage (54-50, UMass, six minutes remaining).

Camby was blocking shots (three on the night), Lorenzen Wright was dunking (17 points) and Edgar Padilla was playing 38 minutes less than a day after being sick to his stomach. “I was playing point guard in practice,” Carmelo Travieso said.

But this was The Game. With UMass trailing, 50-47, and 8:41 left, somebody in a maroon-and-white uniform was going to have to make a play. UMass took it a step further: It offered SOMEBODIES.

Camby sandwiched two jumpers around a Travieso 3-pointer, and the lead was 54-50. Then the back-and-forth began. UMass had a 55-52 lead, but Dana Dingle missed three consecutive free throws and picked up an offensive foul. Next Camby was called for his fourth personal foul, and three minutes later, there was UMass . . . staring at a 56-55 Memphis lead.

“It was our game to win and our game to lose,” Finch said. “For the first time all year, we didn't convert.”

There could be many reasons. Finch says turnovers. Fans say UMass. The Minutemen say Bright.

The 6-foot-6-inch senior coolly pulled up for a 3-pointer with 2:06 remaining. Swish. “I would have let the other kid make it,” Finch said, speaking of Dingle, “but not Donta.”

Said Camby, “Coach Cal probably would have gone crazy if he had missed that shot.”

Still, the 58-56 lead wasn't safe. One minute later, after a Michael Wilson free throw, Mingo Johnson (12 points) was dropping in the most difficult shot of the night: a reverse layup over Padilla for a 59-58 lead.

But this is where Memphis made its biggest mistake. It was looking for Camby to take the shot and simply watched Bright drive to the hoop for an easy layup. UMass led, 60-59. It did not trail again. “I'm not afraid to take that shot,” Bright said of his 3-pointer.

Finch knows that. And if he's looking for sympathy, he can call 10 other coaches.

UMass Withstands Memphis Rally
By Jere Longman, The New York Times, 1/5/1996

The point guard spent two days in the hospital, dehydrated from a stomach virus. The entire team had jet lag as the collective UMass body clock continued to tick on Hawaii time. Apparently, the Minutemen are determined to be No. 1 in both the polls and in frequent-flier miles.

Despite the weariness, this magical mystery ride of a season continued tonight at the Centrum, if just barely.

After squandering an early 16-point lead, Massachusetts regained its composure, thanks to the 6-foot-11-inch center Marcus Camby, who maintained his assertiveness despite foul trouble and provided a 64-61 victory over third-ranked Memphis and its equally agile and mobile post man, Lorenzen Wright.

Camby led the Minutemen with 23 points (13 in the second half), 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots as UMass preserved its unblemished season at 11-0, while Memphis lost for the first time and slipped to 8-1. The 6-11 Wright collected 17 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks for Memphis.

Eighty-three seconds into the second half, Camby drew his third personal, but he did not grow timid or lose his resolve despite repeated inside challenges from Wright and the other Tigers.

“He's got good skills outside, and he can take it to the hole,” Wright said of Camby. “He did all the things I knew he was going to do – make baskets when they counted.”

After an early 31-15 UMass lead had evaporated, and Memphis had gone up by 50-47, Camby simply took over. He posted up Wright for a turnaround jumper, grabbed a defensive rebound, smothered a Wright shot from behind and pulled up for a second jumper that gave the Minutemen a 54-50 lead after a 7-0 run.

“Marcus carried us when we needed it,” UMass Coach John Calipari said. “Marcus did what Marcus can do: dominate a game.”

Still, the 4-point lead was hardly safe. Camby drew foul No. 4 with 5 minutes 1 second left. Waiting for an alley-oop pass, he pushed a Memphis player under the offensive boards. Memphis kept funneling the ball inside, trying to lure Camby into his fifth, disqualifying foul, and took the lead at 56-55 as point guard Chris Garner flicked a layup over the UMass center.

Ever resourceful, UMass went back ahead, 58-56, on a 3-point heave by Donta Bright – only his fourth shot this season from beyond the arc. Memphis regained the lead, 59-58, but Bright answered immediately with a driving layup, then picked up a loose ball after Memphis forward Michael Wilson slipped and lost possession.

“Donta is as good at finishing as anyone in the country,” Calipari said.

Good thing.

“If he had missed that 3-point shot, coach would have gone crazy,” Camby said.

With 30.4 seconds left, point guard Edgar Padilla sank a pair of free throws to put UMass up by 62-59, then stripped Memphis's leading scorer, Mingo Johnson, as the clock dipped under 16 seconds. Camby grabbed the loose ball and, forced to foul, Memphis sent him to the line with 13.7 seconds left. Camby landed both attempts to give UMass an insurmountable 64-59 lead.

Dehydrated, Padilla spent two days hooked to an intravenous tube this week. And, four days after returning from three victories in the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii, UMass's internal rhythms were still swaying to an island beat.

It hardly seemed to matter as the UMass lead swelled to 16 points while Memphis's running game stalled in neutral. But a lack of depth at guard left the Minutemen vulnerable as the half wore down and Camby, Padilla and shooting guard Carmelo Travieso drew two fouls apiece. Calipari rested Camby and Travieso, trying to protect a lead while protecting against their third fouls, but the rudderless Minutemen drifted into danger.

Memphis closed within 35-30 at halftime, then went ahead, 36-35, on a layup by Wright, who runs the floor like a quarter-miler. It was left to Camby to pull this game, and Calipari, out of the fire.

“The only one with jet lag tonight was me,” Calipari said. “I got too cute at the end of the half. These guys rescued me tonight.”

UMass holds off Memphis
By Terry Price, The Hartford Courant Staff Writer, 1/5/1996

The UMass basketball team had too much intestinal fortitude to let intestinal illness stand in its way Thursday.

The Minutemen maintained their grip on the No. 1 ranking with a 64-61 victory over the University of Memphis before 13,557 in the Busch Atlantic 10-Conference USA Challenge at the Centrum.

UMass (11-0) found a way to make the big plays down the stretch to withstand a stiff challenge from No. 3 Memphis (8-1).

Right up until game time, it was doubtful whether UMass guard Edgar Padilla and forward Tyrone Weeks would play because of a stomach virus that kept them confined to the UMass campus medical facility, receiving intravenous fluids.

Both played, and Padilla made two free throws with 30 seconds left to help ensure the victory.

“We have the type of team that wants to win,” UMass coach John Calipari said in explaining why Padilla and Weeks played. “They have that fierce desire and passion to win.”

In a matchup of two of the better centers in the country, UMass' Marcus Camby had 23 points and seven rebounds to Lorenzen Wright's 17 points and nine rebounds.

UMass has beaten a steady diet of top- ranked teams this season, beginning with the opener when the Minutemen knocked off No. 1 Kentucky. Victories over No. 10 Wake Forest, No. 13 Syracuse, No. 19 Maryland and No. 21 Georgia Tech followed.

Memphis presented the most serious challenge to UMass' standing as the top team in the nation. The Tigers, who trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half, came back to take the lead in the second half.

Memphis led 59-58 with 1 minute, 12 seconds left. But Donta Bright hit a layup with 1:05 left to give UMass the lead for good. Bright (15 points) also hit a three-pointer down the stretch.

“I wanted to take the shot,” Bright said. “I had the shot. I had to take it.”

After Padilla hit two free throws for a three-point lead, he stripped Mingo Johnson from behind on a three-point attempt with 15 seconds left.

Camby made two free throws with 13.7 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Padilla and Weeks contracted a stomach virus when the Minutemen were in Hawaii last week for the Rainbow Classic, which they won by defeating Syracuse in the championship game. Several other members of the team, including Camby, were also affected but did not require hospitalization.

UMass has been, at best, a seven-man team this season. The five starters had played 83 percent of the minutes coming into the game. They accounted for 88.3 percent of UMass' points in its first ten games.

Padilla, who was averaging 10.1 points, started and played his usual 38 minutes. But he appeared weakened, finishing with four points.

“In the last 48 hours, we've pumped him full of fluids,” Calipari said. “He's incredible. Weeks has been sick since Hawaii.”

Weeks played seven minutes.

“We played a good team [Thursday], no question,” Memphis coach Larry Finch said. “But we didn't make good decisions when we got the lead. It was ours to win, and we didn't do it.”

• Video: Full game recording
• Video: Highlights from ESPN, source 1, source 2
• Video: Highlights from Season banquet video

Sound clips from the ESPN broadcast:

• Dana Dingle and Donta Bright get their props
• The call on one of Marcus Camby's three blocks
• The bank welcomes back Marcus Camby as a valued customer

MEMPHIS (61)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Henderson       33   4-8   2-2   2-5  0  3   10
Wilson          29   2-5   1-2   3-5  1  4    5
Wright          38  8-14   1-3   4-9  0  3   17
Johnson         36  5-18   1-3   0-1  5  1   12
Garner          34   5-8   0-0   3-4  2  4   10
Gales            4   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Allen            7   2-2   0-0   1-1  0  3    4
J Newman         4   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  1    0
R Newsom        15   1-9   0-0   3-4  1  1    3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-64  5-10 17-30  9 21   61
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.422, FT-.500. 3-Point Goals:
2-14, .143 (Johnson 1-9, R Newsom 1-5). Team
rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 6 (Wilson 3, Wright
2, Johnson). Turnovers: 13 (Garner 4, Henderson
3, Johnson 3, R Newsom, Wilson, Wright). Steals:
4 (Johnson 2, Henderson, Wright).

MASSACHUSETTS (64)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Dingle          37   1-5   4-7   1-3  1  3    6
Bright          36   5-9   4-7   2-6  1  1   15
Camby           33  8-16   7-8   1-7  1  4   23
E Padilla       38   0-3   4-4   0-1  7  2    4
Travieso        36  5-12   0-0   3-4  1  3   13
Weeks            7   0-2   0-0   1-2  0  1    0
Nunez            6   1-2   1-2   4-4  0  0    3
Norville         7   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-49 20-28 12-28 11 14   64
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.408, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:
4-11, .364 (Bright 1-1, E Padilla 0-3, Travieso
3-7). Team rebounds: 7. Blocked shots: 5 (Camby
3, Nunez, Norville). Turnovers: 14 (Dingle 4,
Camby 3, E Padilla 3, Weeks 2, Norville,
Travieso). Steals: 7 (Camby 3, E Padilla 2,
Travieso 2).
__________________________________
Memphis            30   31  -   61
Massachusetts      35   29  -   64
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,557. Officials:
Larry Lembo, Gerry Donaghy, Tim Higgins.