Tulane needed to win the American Athletic Conference Tournament in order to make the NCAA Tournament. And Memphis probably faced the same situation.

The sixth-seeded Tigers, who have endured an up-and-down season, kept their tournament hopes alive with a 74-54 victory over the 10th-seeded Green Wave on Saturday at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

The Tigers will play Connecticut in the AAC championship game at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.

As has been the case for most of the season, freshman Dedric Lawson and senior Shaq Goodwin led the Tigers (19-14). Lawson scored 17 points and had 10 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season. Goodwin added 16 points.

Three other Tigers scored 10 points each, including Markel Crawford, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Guards Louis Dabney and Melvin Frazier led the Green Wave with eight points each.

The Tigers trailed for only a brief moment when the Green Wave led 6-4 after a Dylan Osetkowski jumper with 16:14 left in the first half.

Tulane (12-22) stayed within arm's reach until Lawson ignited an 11-2 run with a 3-pointer followed by a layup and two free throws for a 25-13 lead.

Tulane still had some fight and closed within six at 26-20. But the Tigers ended the half on a mini-run and a 31-22 lead at intermission.

Memphis opened the second half on fire and built a 40-24 lead on Goodwin's 3-point jumper, only one of three 3-pointers made by the Tigers.

Memphis held Tulane to 18 field goals and forced 17 turnovers.

The Tigers weren't much better from the field at 40.3 percent, but they did connect on 21 of 25 free throws.

The end of Tulane's Cinderella run probably also marks the end of coach Ed Conroy's six-year stay at the school.

Midway through Friday night's upset win over second-seeded Houston, Conroy said three people behind the bench told him about his reported firing, which was first reported by CBSSports.com.

If Conroy is done at Tulane, he leaves with a 92-103 record and a dubious streak of losing at least 15 games every season.