SMU guard Mouhammad Faye grabs a rebound during play against Memphis Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum. (MICHAEL DOOLEY/ The Daily Campus )

The SMU Men’s basketball team delivered their biggest win of the season and coach Matt Doherty’s best win at SMU, with a stunning 70- 60 victory over the University of Memphis(15-6, 5-2)  on Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum.

“You always want to get a signature win and we haven’t had one,” Doherty said. “To me, this was it.”

The Mustangs fourth straight victory improved the teams record to 10-10 on the season and an even 3-3 mark in Conference USA. SMU’s victory also marked the first time since the 2002-03 season that the Mustangs have defeated their conference’s defending regular season champion.

Memphis, in their second C-USA loss of the season, was handed their first road loss in league play in 1,429 days and 27 games. With the loss the Tigers are 15 -6 on the season and 5-2 in league play.

The Mustangs were led in scoring by Junior Papa Dia and Senior Derek Williams.

Dia, the 6-foot-9-inch forward from Senegal, had a career-high 23 points and 14 rebounds, capped off by an 11-of-13 performance from the free throw line. Dia also had two blocks on the night to accompany one steal.

“I’ve been here three years, and this is the biggest win since I’ve been here,” Dia said. “I was just really excited. I’ve never had this kind of feeling before.”

Derek Williams led the Mustangs in scoring, with a game high 25 points, missing only one of his 15 attempts from the free throw line. It was Williams’ seventh 20-point game of the season.

Williams, who missed what could have been a game-winning free throw against TCU earlier in the season, made a career-high 14 free throws, including seven in the final minute to put the Mustangs up by eight points with 17 seconds remaining.

“I just go back to the TCU game,” Williams said. “I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.”

Memphis gained an early lead and managed to cling on to a five-point advantage at the end of the first half, but SMU refused to settle. SMU took the lead at the 10:26 mark of the second half with a layup from Williams. The Mustangs built a five Memphis closed to within two points, 50-48 at the 4:34 mark. The Mustangs steadily increased their lead down the stretch as Williams delivered in the clutch.
 

SMU’s defense allowed the Tigers to score only 30 points in the second half, including only four points off of 12 second-chance opportunities.
 

The Mustangs also out-rebounded Memphis 38-28; the memory of blowing the 24-point lead they had over UAB just two weeks ago still clear in their minds.
 

“I don’t think we got rattled down the stretch like we did against UAB,” Doherty said. “I think our team grew up tonight.”
 

As the clock reached zero, hundreds of SMU fans decked out in red t-shirts rushed the court.
 

They joined the players as they celebrated one of the biggest wins in the program’s history.
“We definitely appreciated all the fans coming out,” Williams said. “It’s always a pleasure, no matter how many people turn out, for fans to come see us.
 

“I’ve never been in a situation where [the students] have stampeded the court so it was a fun experience. Hopefully more people will start coming out to watch us play.”
 

The Mustangs will look to improve on their four game winning streak as they take on Southern Miss (12-8, 2-4) Tuesday night followed by Tulane on Feb. 6 as part of a two-game road trip.
 

The team will be back in Moody Coliseum to host the 15-5, 6-1 University of Texas at El Paso Miners on Feb 10 at 7 p.m.