UCF, Houston and Temple all picked up victories on the opening night of American Athletic Conference men's basketball league play on December 28.

Wednesday, December 28
UCF 52, Wichita State 45 - Box Score
Temple 59, East Carolina 57 - Box Score
No. 3 Houston 89, Tulsa 50 - Box Score

UCF 52, Wichita State 45 - Box Score
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Darius Johnson’s 15 points helped UCF defeat Wichita State 52-45 on Wednesday night to open American Athletic Conference play.

Johnson added five rebounds and four steals for the Knights (10-3). Taylor Hendricks scored nine points while going 4 of 11 (1 for 4 from distance), and added five rebounds. Brandon Suggs finished 4 of 5 from the field to finish with nine points.

Melvion Flanagan finished with 11 points for the Shockers (7-6). Jaron Pierre Jr. added seven points for Wichita State.

UCF led Wichita State at the half, 26-23, with Suggs (five points) their high scorer before the break. UCF outscored Wichita State by four points in the final half, while Johnson led the way with a team-high 12 second-half points.

Temple 59, East Carolina 57 - Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Khalif Battle scored 18 points off of the bench to lead Temple over East Carolina 59-57 to open American Athletic Conference action on Wednesday night.

Battle also contributed five rebounds for the Owls (7-7). Jahlil White scored 10 points and added seven rebounds. Nick Jourdain shot 3 of 4 from the field and 3 for 3 from the line to finish with nine points.

The Pirates (9-5) were led by Brandon Johnson, who finished with 11 points, 18 rebounds and four assists. East Carolina also got 11 points and six steals from Jaden Walker. In addition, Ezra Ausar had 10 points.

White scored six points in the first half and Temple went into halftime trailing 23-22. Battle’s 16-point second half helped Temple close out the two-point victory.

No. 3 Houston 89, Tulsa 50 - Box Score
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — J’Wan Roberts scored 15 points, Tramon Mark and Emanuel Sharp added 14 each, and No. 3 Houston routed Tulsa 89-50 on Wednesday night in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

The Cougars (13-1) missed five of their first seven shots as Tulsa took an early 8-5 lead, but were deadly thereafter and finished the game shooting 59% (36 of 61).

Bryant Selebangue led Tulsa (4-8) with 13 points.

Houston used a couple of big runs to pull away to a 43-26 halftime advantage, then opened the second half with a 12-2 burst.

Tulsa had success early using screen-and-rolls to free Selebangue, who was 5-for-5 in the first half for 10 points. But the Hurricane finished 19 of 56 (33%) against the nation’s leading team in field goal percentage defense and scoring defense.