PROVIDENCE, R.I. - It continues to be tight atop the American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings with four teams with just a single loss and at least five victories through three and a half weeks of league play. Cincinnati, which is receiving votes in both polls this week, tied No. 17/17 Houston for the conference lead at 6-1 with a strong victory against Tulsa. Temple and Memphis battled to join rv/- UCF in a tie for third as the Owls held off the Tigers to move to 5-1.
Thursday, January 23
rv/rv Cincinnati 88, Tulsa 64
The Bearcats rolled ton 88-64 win against Tulsa on Thursday night before 10,484 fans at Fifth Third Arena.
Cincinnati out-boarded the Golden Hurricane, 44-26, outscoring them 25-5 in second-chance points. The Bearcats also made 10-of-16 from beyond the arc on the way to a season-high 14 three-point field goals for the game.
UC (17-, 6-1) has won 22-straight conference games at Fifth Third Arena and is 45-4 in American home games since the league was founded in 2013-14. The Bearcats have started a season with at least 17 wins in its first 20 games for the fourth time in the past six seasons.
Tulsa (12-8, 2-5) has lost four of its last five games and has lost eight of its last nine against the Bearcats. The Golden Hurricane, which was led by Sterling Taplin's 12 points, hasn't won in Cincinnati since Jan. 5, 1967.
Junior guard Jarron Cumberland led the way for UC with 23 points, while senior point guard Justin Jenifer netted a career-high six three-pointers in 10 attempts to tie his career high of 18 points.
Jenifer, who had a 35.8 percent career three-point percentage, now boasts the best mark from distance in The American at 46.7 percent (35-for75) this season.
UC's Trevon Scott scored 13 points and pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Cane Broome added 10 points, all in the first half.
Scott's 11 rebounds gave him two straight double-figure rebounding games and four in his last six.
The Bearcats held the lead throughout most of the first half and led 39-28 at halftime.
UC jumped out to leads of 5-0 and 10-2 as Tulsa missed its first five field goal attempts. The Bearcats increased their lead to 15-6 on a three-point play by Broome and led 24-9 after Broome's three-point basket with 9:38 left in the half. They made eight of their first 14 field goal attempts.
Tulsa played the Bearcats even for the rest of the half, but never got closer than nine points. The Golden Hurricane shot 38.5 percent in the first half and committed eight turnovers that UC turned into 10 points.
Both teams came out firing at the start of the second half, with UC making six of its first seven shots, including four-of-four from three-point range. Tulsa made six of its first eight field goal attempts in the second half.
By the second TV timeout, though, the Bearcats had pulled away to take a 65-44 with 11:38 left on three-pointers by Jenifer and Cumberland. Their largest lead of the night was 25.
Temple 85, Memphis 76
Junior Quinton Rose exploded out of the gate and finished with a career-high 26 points in lifting Temple to an 85-76 over Memphis (12-7, 4-2) at the Liacouras Center.
The Owls (15-4, 5-1) built a 20-point lead midway through the first half and never trailed, despite letting the Tigers come nearly all the way back in the second half.
Rose scored 15 of his points in the first 10 minutes in helping the Owls to a 14-0 run that gave them a 20-point, 28-8 lead at 9:50.
Memphis cut the deficit to eight by halftime, to three early in the second half, and to two near the five-minute mark.
The Tigers were still within six points with two minutes to go, but the Owls' defense, highlighted by two Alani Moore II steals, kept them from scoring again.
The Owls won despite a huge, 52-28 advantage by Memphis in points in the paint, and a 46-34 lead by the Tigers on the glass.
Five players reached double figures in scoring for Temple for the first time in the 2018-19 season.
Rose made five shots from three-point range. He also added five assists to his career-high 26 points.
Temple's Nate Pierre-Louis scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. Shizz Alston, Jr., De'Vondre Perry and Moore all scored 10 points apiece, while Ernest Aflakpui pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Memphis' Jeremiah Martin scored a season-high 28 points and Raynere Thornton added a season-high 14.
UPCOMING GAMES