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MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- With Samford leading 64-60 with 18 seconds remaining to play Tuesday, the Bulldogs seemed poised to earn their first victory over Memphis in nearly 70 years, dating back to Feb. 27, 1948, but a late turnover coupled with a miraculous 3-point play from Jamar Johnson with 2.5 seconds left in the game lifted the Tigers to an improbable 65-64 victory held at the FedEx Forum.
 
Samford (2-7) led Memphis (5-2) for over 30 minutes Tuesday. The Bulldogs built an 11-point lead late in the first half and held a seven-point advantage, 56-49, at the 8:23 mark in the second stanza.
 
After Samford garnered a 41-32 advantage at the half, all of the alleged 4,702 blue-clad fans in the building knew that Memphis would make a run in the second frame, but the Bulldogs did a good job of holding off the rally. Samford, which is 0-6 on the road this season, led the Tigers, 64-60, with 18 seconds left to play following a brilliant step-back jumper from Demetrius Denzel-Dyson.
 
Denzel-Dyson, who is a native of nearby Covington, Tennessee, led the Bulldogs with 17 points, six rebounds and four steals Tuesday.
 
After Denzel-Dyson's late basket seemingly salted away Samford's victory, Memphis' Jeremiah Martin answered quickly with a layup at the 11-second mark to make the score, 64-62. Martin finished the contest with 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
 
On the ensuing possession, Memphis' Raynere Thornton earned a steal in the corner and the Tigers took a timeout trailing by two, 64-62, with 9.5 seconds remaining in the contest.
 
With the game on the line and the last few seconds swiftly ticking off the clock, Memphis' Jimario Rivers missed a jumper from the left baseline at :06, but the rebound was grabbed by freshman Jamal Johnson in the lane and he fired an off-balanced line drive from seven feet out that found the mark and tied the game at 64-64 with 2.5 remaining.
 
On the play, Johnson, who is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, and a graduate of Spain Park High School, was fouled, so he went to the line to try to give Memphis the lead. For his sixth point of the game, Johnson connected on the late free throw and gave the Tigers their decisive 65-64 advantage.
 
After shooting 56 percent from the field in the first half, Samford was limited to 22 points and 24.1-percent shooting in the second period.
 
Memphis shot the ball pretty consistently in the game and finished with a 41.5-percent mark from the floor. The Tigers outscored the Bulldogs, 30-14, in the paint, but Samford led 10-4 in fast-break points, as well as 23-12 in bench points.
 
Following Denzel-Dyson's 17 points, the Bulldogs' added eight, while Justin Coleman finished with seven and Kevion Nolan and Stefan Lakic both chipped in with six points apiece.
 
Samford trails in its all-time series against Memphis, 1-5.
 
The Bulldogs' head coach Scott Padgett played for Memphis head coach Tubby Smith for two seasons at Kentucky (1997-99) before being drafted in the first round (28^th overall) by the Utah Jazz. Padgett and Smith both won an NCAA Championship at Kentucky during the 1997-98 campaign.

The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 2 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs conclude their current three-game non-conference road stretch against the Clemson Tigers in a high-profile, early-season contest to be held at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, South Carolina.
 
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QUOTES FROM SAMFORD HEAD COACH SCOTT PADGETT
 
"I thought we were really good for the most part. In the first half, I don't know if we had but maybe one or two breakdowns. One of the big things they do is getting out in transition. They had zero fast break points in the first half and finished with four. That was a huge key for us. We had a breakdown at the end of the game and at the end of the first half; both were almost the exact same play. It's tough because for 95 percent of this game our guys did everything they could do to secure a win. They (Memphis) really battled."
 
"What I told them was this was the first game this year we lost that I felt you as a player can look around the room and know you gave your teammates your best. It's the first game we've lost that you look at them and they look sick because they lost. Maybe because it was because some of the other games were so far lost that you stop caring earlier in the game because you knew it was over, but this team that played tonight can win a lot of games if we learn from a couple mistakes, secure the ball when you get the ball in bounds, take away the lane and make them kick back, find a way to get one last rebound – all those things have to carry over to the next game."

"With our activity in our zone, we may have found a new defense. I'm not going to take credit for it. I watched film. Northern Kentucky, Arkansas-Little Rock and Mercer all ran a 3-2 (defense) against them and they struggled against it. To be honest with you, all those games ended like ours did. (Memphis) found a way to fight back with offensive rebounds and they win the game. I'm proud of the guys with the fight. I thought we were out of sorts the first 10 minutes of the second half. I would have like to have seen a little more freedom of play in the second half. I think we could have been in a better situation to win the game if we played better in the first 10 minutes of the second half offensively. But I'm proud of this team."

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