TAMPA, Fla. -- Dedric Lawson scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Memphis earned the season sweep of South Florida with an 85-75 win on Thursday night.

Lawson, who was named a finalist for the Karl Malone Award given to the nation's top power forward, finished 11 of 18 from the field.

K.J. Lawson added 18 points and 10 rebounds while Jeremiah Martin had 15 points for the Tigers (17-6, 7-3 American), who have won four of five to move into sole possession of third place in the American Conference, one-half game ahead of Tulsa.

Malik Fitts scored a career-high 28 points, the freshman's first career 20-point game, to lead South Florida (6-15, 0-10).

Memphis led by five at halftime and pushed the lead to 10, 47-37, on a Craig Randall II 3-pointer early in the second. A Martin 3 made it 69-52 with 5:35 left and the Tigers led by double digits the rest of the way.