Tulsa pulled itself back within a half-game of first place in the conference standings with a win over East Carolina Wednesday night.
The Golden Hurricane notched a 69-58 win at Reynolds Center to improve to 18-7 and 11-2 in The American. Three Tulsa players were in double figures in scoring, led by a game-high 19 from G James Woodard. Tulsa shot 51-percent from the floor in the victory. G Terry Whisnant led the Pirates with 15 points.
Cincinnati was edged 59-57 by Xavier in the final nonconference game on The American regular season slate, as the Bearcats fell to 17-9 overall. F Gary Clark led the way for Cincinnati with 14 points and seven rebounds.
There are three games on Thursday’s schedule, all with major implications in the conference standings.
First-place SMU hosts Temple (7 p.m., ESPN2.) With a victory, the Mustangs keep control of the top spot in the league, while a Temple victory would bring the Owls within a half-game of both SMU and Tulsa. Temple has won seven in a row, while the Mustangs are winners in nine of their last 10 games.
UCF travels to Tulane (7 p.m., ESPNews) in a rematch of one of the wildest games of the season. The Knights outlasted the Green Wave 103-100 in three overtimes Jan. 14 in Orlando. G B.J. Taylor had 33 points for UCF, while Tulane guards Louis Dabney (26) and Jay Hook (25) combined for just over half of their team’s 100 points.
Memphis hosts UConn (9 p.m., ESPN) with both teams looking to put themselves in the driver’s seat for the fifth and final first-round bye in the American Athletic Conference Championship in Hartford next month. Both teams are 7-5 in conference play, a half-game behind fourth-place Cincinnati and two games ahead of seventh-place Tulane entering Thursday.