PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The top three teams in the American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings were all in action on the road last night and the trio came away with victories. No. 8/6 Houston put up an impressive performance at ECU for its 27
th victory of the year, 14
th conference win and 12
th-straight W. No. 23/22 Cincinnati rallied from a second-half deficit at SMU to join the Cougars as teams that have clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Championship in Memphis, Tenn. UCF earned an important win with a victory in the latest chapter of the War on I4, holding off USF.
Wednesday, February 27
No. 8/6 Houston 99, ECU 65
Corey Davis, Jr. matched his career high with 26 points to help No. 8/6 Houston beat ECU, 99-65, on Wednesday night.
Fabian White, Jr. added 16 points for the Cougars (27-1, 14-1), who shot 60 percent. They made 13-of-28 3-pointers, which followed a 16-for-24 effort during last month's 44-point victory in the first meeting.
Four different Cougars reached double-digit points while only one player totaled more than 24 minutes of court time.
Seth LeDay had 17 points off the bench to lead the Pirates (10-17, 3-12), who trailed 45-31 by the break and never recovered.
ECU's Isaac Fleming, who made this week's American Athletic Conference Honor Roll, was also strong off the pine with 13 points, seven assists and two 3-pointers. Freshman Jayden Gardner added 14 points, five rebounds and a steal.
The Cougars now have 12-straight conference wins. Houston started the season with 15-consecutive wins which is the fifth-longest win streak in the history of The American. Its current 12-game streak is tied for the sixth-longest in the conference record book.
Houston has also reached the program's highest ranking since Hakeem Olajuwon was starring for Houston in 1984. They have matched last year's win total with three games left in the regular season.
The Pirates had trouble slowing down the Cougars in the first half, then saw a double-digit deficit balloon in the second half. ECU has lost eight straight against top-10 opponents as well as in the series against Houston.
UCF 75, USF 63
UCF earned its fifth win in the last six games, defeating USF 75-63 on the road to sweep the War On I-4 Rivalry Series for the fourth-straight year.
The Knights (21-6, 11-4), winners of back-to-back games, have now picked up their most regular-season victories since going 21-9 back in 2011-12 and tied the program's most American Athletic Conference wins since joining the league.
UCF continued its stretch of recent success against its rival, winning in Tampa to pull back to .500 in true road games, at 4-4. For the Knights to continue its recent run of positivity, they will have to do it at the league leader, Houston, Saturday on ESPN in College GameDay's host matchup site.
On Wednesday, though, it was again a complete team effort that led the Knights to the win over USF (18-10, 7-8). Four UCF players scored in double figures as the Knights shot an impressive 55.6 percent from the floor.
After leading just 36-33 at halftime, the Knights used a 14-1 run early in the second to increase their lead to 50-36. Senior BJ Taylor ignited the spurt with five-straight points, including his lone three-pointer of the game. Over the last seven games, Taylor has also recorded 36 assists to just eight turnovers.
Taylor finished with 15 points, going 6-of-9 from the free throw line, but it was senior Tacko Fall who led the way for the second-straight game, scoring 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
USF was led by Justin Brown who had a team-high 15 points as he was perfect from the field and went 3-of-3 from long range. David Collins had 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Fall and the Knights outrebounded a Bulls team that ranks 10th in the nation in rebound margin by a mark of 29-25. Fall had five, while Aubrey Dawkins and Chad Brown each led the way with seven boards in the game.
Dawkins also scored 14 points, while Dayon Griffin added 12 off the bench. Griffin was integral in keeping the Knights ahead in the first half, scoring 10 of his season-high 12 in the first 20 minutes. Griffin was 4-of-7 from the field with three assists and two blocked shots.
The Knights had 19 assists on 25 field goals as a team and turned the ball over only 12 times, allowing just four steals against South Florida, which averages 8.3 steals per game.
The Knights are now 21-0 when leading with two minutes to play.
No. 23/22 Cincinnati 52, SMU 49
Rashawn Fredericks put No. 23/22 Cincinnati ahead to stay with his only two field goals and the Bearcats overcame a tough shooting night to beat SMU 52-49 on Wednesday.
Fredericks finished with six points for the Bearcats (24-4, 13-2), and his consecutive layups midway through the second half made it 36-33. That was part of an 8-0 run, and Cincinnati never trailed again despite shooting a season-low 26.6 percent (17-of-64) from the field.
Jarron Cumberland led Cincinnati with 12 points, well below his season average of 18.6 per game that was second in the conference. He didn't reach double figures until making four free throws in the final 37 seconds.
Cincinnati has won 12 of its last 13 games, the only loss in that span at league-leading Houston (27-1, 14-1) on Feb. 10. The Bearcats are the defending AAC champions, and the last of their three remaining regular-season games is at home March 10 against the Cougars.
Jahmal McMurray had a game-high 27 points for SMU (13-14, 5-10), which has lost seven of eight. The Mustangs were coming off a 95-48 loss at UCF on Sunday that was the most lopsided defeat in program history.
After a dunk by Cumberland put Cincinnati up 19-14 with 5:59 left in the first half, SMU ended the half with a 14-3 run for a 28-22 lead at the break.
The Bearcats, who missed 11 of their first 12 shots to start the game, made only one of their last nine in the half - a 3-pointer by Justin Jenifer that put them up 22-20. SMU then went ahead on a 3-pointer by McMurray.
Cincinnati scored the first six points of the second half, a jumper by Keith Williams with 17:16 left making it 28-all for the only tie of the second half.
Cincinnati finished with a 50-35 rebounding margin, including 21 offensive boards. Nysier Brooks had 12 rebounds, and Tre Scott added 10. Keith Williams and Brooks each had eight points.
UPCOMING GAMES