Memphis 71, George Washington 66
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Guard Michael Dixon Jr. came off the bench to score 19 points and made two clutch free throws with 9.6 seconds remaining as eighth-seeded Memphis held off ninth-seeded George Washington 71-66 in an NCAA Tournament East Regional second-round game on Friday night at PNC Arena.
Memphis advances to face No. 1 seeded Virginia on Sunday.
Dixon rebounded George Washington guard Maurice Cheek's airballed 3-point attempt, then sealed it with two more free throws with less than a second on the clock.
Memphis (24-9) meets the Virginia-Coastal Carolina winner in the third round on Sunday.
Dixon, the American Athletic Conference's Sixth Man of the Year, scored the last five Memphis points.
Guard Joe Jackson added 15 points for the Tigers, who reached the round of 32 for the second year in a row.
Dixon was coming off the only back-to-back games when he did not reach double figures in points.
Forward Isaiah Armwood scored a season-high 21 points and forward Kevin Larsen provided 12 of his 16 points in the first half for George Washington (24-9). Armwood and Larsen combined to make 16 of 22 shots from the field. The rest of the team was 9 of 34.
The Colonials continually threatened to rattle Memphis in the second half even though the Tigers made seven of their first 10 shots from the field after halftime.
It was 45-41 with 14 minutes remaining.
Cheek's 3-pointer and forward Patricio Garino's basket made it 64-62 with less than three minutes left. Garino ended up with 10 points.
Dixon's 3-pointer cut some of the tension for Memphis.
George Washington forward Nemanja Mikic had a potential tying 3-pointer from the wing bounce off with a minute left.
Colonials guard Joe McDonald's acrobatic drive for a basket trimmed the margin to 67-66 with 15 seconds left.
Memphis led 31-26 at halftime lead despite shooting 35.5 percent from the field. The Tigers ran into trouble by scoring only three points in the last four minutes.
Memphis hit five 3-point shots in the first half and George Washington was 0 of 5 on long-range shots before the break.
Earlier, Memphis built a 10-point lead with just less than eight minutes left in the half.
The Tigers received 10 first-half points from their reserves.
NOTES: Memphis reserve F David Pellom played three seasons for George Washington before taking last season off with a wrist injury. He came to Memphis under the graduate transfer rule, making him eligible to play this season. Plus, Pellom's first NCAA Tournament came in his home state. He is from Wilmington, N.C. ... George Washington's most-recent NCAA Tournament game also was against a team from Tennessee, losing to Vanderbilt in 2007 in Sacramento, Calif. ... Memphis and George Washington met only once before, with George Washington winning 69-60 in the third-place game of the 1994 Preseason NIT.
