Battling a Long Shot, Tigers Find Their Own

Memphis 81, Cal State-Northridge 70

KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 19 -- Locked in a taut contest against an unlikely challenger, Memphis was on the verge of losing everything -- its 25-game winning streak, its hopes to return to the Final Four -- in an enthralling opening act to the NCAA tournament on Thursday afternoon.

But one unheralded Memphis player kept rising with the ball, flicking his wrist and swishing three-point shots.

Roburt Sallie, whose career high had been 13 points, was Memphis's savior on a day when the Tigers desperately needed one. The sophomore guard made a school-record 10 three-pointers and scored 35 points to lift No. 2 Memphis to an 81-70 victory over No. 15 Cal State-Northridge in the first round of the West Region at Sprint Center.

"The rim was as big as the locker room for him," Memphis guard Antonio Anderson said.

At times, Sallie appeared to need barely a glimpse of the basket before unleashing shots with a quick release. Surprised how often he was left open, Sallie repeatedly burned Northridge's zone defense. After the Tigers rallied from a six-point deficit midway through the second half, Sallie made two three-pointers to push the lead to double-digits in the final minutes.

Sallie's 10 three-pointers were a record for an NCAA tournament first-round game, and his 35 points were the most ever by a Memphis player in the NCAA tournament.

"That's something I don't think my teammates would have expected me to have a record like that," Sallie said. "I am just a shooter."

Northridge grabbed a 9-2 lead and remained in the game with balanced scoring and opportunistic three-point shooting. Three Memphis starters -- Tyreke Evans, Shawn Taggart and Robert Dozier -- battled foul trouble in the first half. But when Anderson swished an uncontested 16-foot jump shot with seven minutes to play in the game, it gave the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish.

The loss marked the end of an improbable run for the Matadors.

Northridge Coach Bobby Braswell could have been killed in an automobile accident last July. Braswell suspended his leading scorer, Deon Tresvant, and guard Dallas Rutherford in January after they were arrested, along with Braswell's son, and charged with felony theft and burglary. And then point guard Josh Jenkins was seriously injured in a Feb. 14 automobile accident.

And through it all, Braswell kept the team's focus on the NCAA tournament, which the Matadors made by winning the Big West Conference tournament.

Northridge took a six-point lead after it made a flurry of three-point shots in the second half. Rodrigue Mels sank a three-pointer that ignited much of the crowd.

"They played us like our league plays us," Memphis Coach John Calipari said. "They were not going away."