#AmericanHoops Scoreboard
#22/22 Cincinnati 55, East Carolina 46
SMU 80, Tulane 64
#22/22 Cincinnati 55, East Carolina 46
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- At least No. 22 Cincinnati didn't lose. That was the only thing that pleased coach Mick Cronin.
The Bearcats beat East Carolina 55-46 on Sunday for their eighth straight win, behind 16 points and 11 rebounds from Kyle Washington.
"The only place we won today was on the scoreboard," Cronin said. "We didn't get better today. We got worse."
Jacob Evans III added 10 points for the Bearcats (15-2, 5-0 American Athletic Conference), who overcame their own shooting struggles by making things even tougher on a Pirates team missing its top scorer.
Cincinnati extended its longest winning streak since the 2013-14 team reeled off 15 straight.
"We have to put everything in perspective," Washington said. "A lot of these AAC teams, no disrespect, but we have to just keep on playing hard because we're trying to play very good teams, top-10 teams, in March and April, moving forward and doing something big."
Freshman Elijah Hughes scored 18 points in his first start and fellow freshman Jeremy Sheppard added 13 for East Carolina (9-10, 1-5), which has lost five in a row and hasn't beaten a nationally ranked opponent since knocking off Dwyane Wade and No. 13 Marquette in 2002.
Cincinnati entered with the nation's No. 3 defense according to Ken Pomeroy's advanced statistics, and the Bearcats held East Carolina to 25 percent from the field and to 4-of-23 shooting from 3-point range. The 46 points allowed was a season best.
That tough D helped make up for an offense that couldn't get on track. Cincinnati matched season worsts with both 32.8 percent shooting and 55 points, and had a season-worst eight shots blocked by East Carolina.
"(The Pirates) didn't make it easy for us," Cronin said. "To come out, not making shots, we didn't do what we needed to do to get the ball to get fouled, to get more ball movement, to get people open. We thought today was going to be easy. That's just the truth of it."
SMU 80, Tulane 64
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Semi Ojeleye scored 21 points and Jarrey Foster added 19 more to lead SMU to an 80-64 win over Tulane on Sunday night.
Ben Moore contributed 15 points and Shake Milton got 11 to go with nine rebounds for SMU (15-4, 5-1 American Athletic Conference), which hit 31 of 61 from the field. Ojeleye and Foster each had three 3-pointers.
The Mustangs broke away in the second half, first with a 12-0 run right out of the intermission to go up 49-35 and later with a 16-2 run that stretched the SMU advantage to 76-54 with 2:21 to play.
In the first half, Tulane (4-13, 1-4) clawed back from a 13-point deficit, getting a 3-pointer from Kain Harris just before the break to close the gap to 37-35 but went cold in the second half.
Harris finished with 16 points, leading four Tulane players in double figures.