BOX SCORE | POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
 

FORT WORTH, Texas — Fifth-seeded Cincinnati is into the finals at the 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship and will look to win its third consecutive conference tournament championship after defeating No. 1 seed Wichita State, 60-59, in the semifinals on Saturday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
 
Cincinnati (12-10) will play in the Championship final against the winner of Houston and Memphis on Sunday, March 14 at 3:15 p.m. ET/2:15 p.m. CT on ESPN. Cincinnati has now won eight consecutive Championship games dating back to the 2018 quarterfinals, breaking SMU’s record of seven from 2015-18. It is the fourth consecutive appearance in the tournament finals for Cincinnati.
 
Wichita State (16-5) led 53-48 with 7:41 left, but Cincinnati went on an 11-2 run to take a 59-55 lead with 1:16 remaining. Tyson Etienne hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to two. Tari Eason made 1-of-2 free throw for the Bearcats and an Alterique Gilbert layup cut the lead to one at 60-59 with 12.7 seconds remaining. After a couple of missed Bearcat free throws, Gilbert’s 3-point field try for the win bounced off to send Cincinnati to the final.
 
Mason Madsen led the Bearcats with 10 points as the other seven players had between five and nine points each. Gilbert had a game-high 14 points for the Shockers.
 
Both teams shot equally from the field at 40.0 percent (22-of-55), while the Bearcats held a 40-31 advantage on the boards.
 
Cincinnati led 29-22 with 5:40 remaining in the first half, but the Shockers scored the next seven highlighted by a big dunk by Trey Wade and a 3-pointer by Dexter Dennis. The Bearcats scored the next six, but Etienne’s 3-pointer off one foot at the buzzer cut Cincinnati’s halftime lead to 35-32.
 
This game was a rematch of the 2019 semifinal that saw the Bearcats win, 66-63, on the way to its second straight American Athletic Conference Championship.
 
All of the latest information regarding the tournament can be found on Championship Central at TheAmerican.org/mbb.
 
Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship
March 11-14, 2021
Dickies Arena
Fort Worth, Texas
 
First Round – Thursday, March 11
Game 1 – No. 8 USF 73, No. 9 Temple 71
Game 2 - No. 10 Tulane 77, No. 7 Tulsa 70
Game 3 - No. 6 UCF 72, No. 11 ECU 62
 
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 12
Game 4 – No. 1 Wichita State 68, No. 8 USF 67
Game 5 – No. 5 Cincinnati 74, No. 4 SMU 71
Game 6 – No. 2 Houston 77, No. 10 Tulane 52
Game 7 – No. 3 Memphis 70, No. 6 UCF 62
 
Semifinals – Saturday, March 13
Game 8 – No. 5 Cincinnati 60, No. 1 Wichita State 59
Game 9 – No. 3 Memphis vs. No. 2 Houston - 5:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. CT – ESPN2
 
Championship Final – Sunday, March 14
Game 10 – No. 5 Cincinnati vs. Winner of Game 9 - 3:15 p.m. ET/2:15 p.m. CT - ESPN