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Memphis forward Joey Dorsey fouls Texas A&M's Josh Carter on Thursday in San Antonio. Memphis won 65-64.
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SAN ANTONIO - The Texas A&M men's basketball team has been crossing firsts off their list all season long. But the magical ride ended one layup or one rebound shy of what would have been the program's most historical step, a trip to the Elite Eight.
Memphis' Antonio Anderson made two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to give the second-seeded Tigers a 65-64 victory over the third-seeded Aggies in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 on Thurday at the Alamodome.
A&M had a final opportunity to score with 3.1 seconds left, but Memphis deflected the inbounds pass out of bounds. The clock operator failed to start the clock on the play, and referees reset it to 2.0 second left after reviewing the replay with a stopwatch.
On the ensuing inbounds pass, the Aggies were unable to execute the play A&M coach Billy Gillispie drew up for Acie Law IV, and Dominique Kirk was forced to throw up a 40-footer at the buzzer that fell well short.
"We were trying to throw to Acie, but he was cutting through there and he got hit in the eye and he had to slow down," Gillispie said.
"It was not a foul. He was supposed to continue on, and we were going to try and get him on a curl cut."
Memphis was ready for the final play drawn up for Law. Memphis coach John Calipari inserted 7-footer Kareem Cooper to guard the inbounds pass down the sideline.
"We weren't going to give that up, and we put the big kid in there for that reason," Calipari said. "And he did a great job of just standing there. They were going to have to throw something over the top for which we were going to switch, or [throw it] into the backcourt."
The Tigers (33-3) have won 25 straight games and will play Ohio State, which rallied to beat Tennessee 85-84, for a spot in the Final Four.
Memphis trailed by one with 25.8 seconds left and had four opportunites to take the lead.
Andre Allen took a long shot that Jeremy Hunt rebounded. He missed and Robert Dozier followed and missed. With each rebound the Tigers were getting closer to the basket before Anderson go the last offensive rebound and was fouled by Donald Sloan.
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Memphis guard Chris Douglas-Roberts dunks between Texas A&M's Antanas Kavaliauskas (left) and Joseph Jones on Thursday in San Antonio at the NCAA Tournament.
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"We were getting good looks," Anderson said. "We had a small lineup, but quick, and nobody boxed me out, and I put it up and got fouled. When I got to the line, I knew my teammates were tired. We were all beat down, and I said, 'Let me get this game over with.'"
Anderson, a 65 percent free-throw shooter, had missed three of his four previous free throws before making one on each side of an Aggie timeout to give Memphis a 65-64 lead.
"They got four offensive rebounds, and you pride yourself on finishing your defensive possessions with a rebound," Gillispie said. "We just didn't get it done, so that makes it a little bit more frustrating to lose."
Seconds earlier, A&M had an opporunity to go up by three.
With the shot clock down to 8 seconds, A&M was forced to go the full length of the court because of a ball that went out of bounds off the leg of a Memphis player.
As they have done numerous times all season, the Aggies got Law loose on a long pass, but this time with Anderon on his left shoulder, Law missed the right-handed layup, and the Tigers rebounded.
"I thought I made it, but I left it a little short," Law said. "Plays like that cost us the ballgame.
"I wasn't surprised [I was open]. It puts them in a bad situation when they are face guarding. But you've got to do a better job of finishing the play, and I missed it."
The Aggies had trouble finishing for most of the second half. A&M scored just 22 points after halftime despite the Tigers' best big man, Joey Dorsey, having to sit out much of the half because of foul trouble.
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Texas A&M's Acie Law IV (left) and Antanas Kavaliauskas walk off the court during a time out in Thursday's game.
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"We only forced them to foul us [six] times in the second half, and that's a big deal for us is going to the foul line," Gillispie said. "They shot 11 more foul shots than us, and when we're playing our best, we beat our opponent at the foul line. Give them credit for doing a good job of moving their feet and getting their hands up."
Two of the four foul shots the Aggies got were taken by Josh Carter, who made one to put the Aggies up 64-63 with 1:50 remaining.
Law, who was only 6-of-17 shooting, followed one of his own misses to give the Aggies a 63-61 lead, but that was short-lived.
Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis' leading scorer who was a game-time decision to play because of an ankle injury, drove to the basket to tie the game at 63-63.
"Honestly, it didn't matter how I was going to feel coming into this game, because I was playing," Douglas-Roberts said.
"I worked around the clock to get it healthy."
The Aggies, who finished with a school record 27 victories in 34 games, had achieved many firsts during the season, including beating Kansas and winning at Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in Big 12 play.
The Aggies also had their highest finish in the Big 12, placing second with a 13-3 record. An overtime loss to Texas in Austin cost them a co-championship with Kansas.
A&M found foul trouble early. Kirk picked up his second foul 8 minutes in and sat the rest of the half. Marlon Pompey came off the bench and had three fouls in 5 minutes.
Gillispie also was tagged with a technical, which added to the team fouls.
"I was surprised about that because I didn't say anything bad," Gillispie said. "I was told you can't react to a call, and that's the first time I've heard that one."
Memphis was saddled with foul trouble early when Dozier picked up two fouls only 3 minutes in. He didn't see the floor again until the second half.
The Aggies exploited the Tigers by going inside to Kavaliauskas and Jones.
Kavaliauskas, who had seven points total in the previous two NCAA Tournament games, scored 13 in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting. Jones was 4 of 6 for 8 points. The two were a big reason the Aggies shot 56 percent in the opening 20 minutes.
Kavaliauskas finished with a team-high 17 points. Jones had 14 and Law 13. No other Aggie had more than five.
Hunt came off the bench to lead the Tigers with 19. Douglas-Roberts matched his average of 15.
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