PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The American Athletic Conference earned four strong wins on Saturday. Cincinnati downed Ole Miss, 71-57, to claim the Emerald Coast Classic Championship while undefeated Houston won at BYU, 76-62, to take the Men Against Breast Cancer Cougar Cup championship. Two of The American's teams that are currently receiving votes in the national polls also earned victories as UConn ran past New Hampshire, 91-66, and UCF handed Northern Kentucky its first loss of the season, 66-53.
RESULTS
rv/- UConn 91, New Hampshire 66
Led by a balanced scoring attack UConn cruised to a 25-point win over the New Hampshire Saturday afternoon at the XL Center.
Senior Jalen Adams and sophomore Josh Carlton led the offense with 17 points apiece, while junior Christian Vital chipped in 14 points. Overall, the Huskies had five players in double figures and shot 52.3 percent from the floor.
The Huskies (5-1) used an 8-0 run early in the first half to gain some much-needed breathing room after both teams traded baskets to begin the contest. UNH used a run of their own to come within nine (30-21), but that was the closest they'd get the rest of the night. Tyler Polley poured in 11 first-half points while Carlton and Vital each added 10 as the Huskies led 48-29 at the break on 55 percent shooting.
UConn continued its hot shooting (48.4%) in the second half as the team cruised to a 91-66 win.
Five players finished the game in double-figures for the Huskies (J. Adams/Carlton - 17, Vital - 14, Polley -12, Gilbert - 11). Vital recorded his third career double-double, tallying 14 points and 10 rebounds. Polley tied his career-high of 12 points.
UConn outscored UNH in the paint, 54-24, and scored 19 second-chance points.
USF 81, The Citadel 84
Kaiden Rice scored 22 points off the bench and made six 3-pointers to lead The Citadel to an 84-81 victory over USF Saturday afternoon at the Yuengling Center.
Lew Stallworth also scored 22 points to go along with five assists and two steals, and Matt Frierson added 15 points and made five 3-pointers to help The Citadel shoot 44.4 percent (16-for-36) from beyond the arc.
David Collins finished with 21 points, four assists and three steals for his third consecutive game of at least 20 points. Laquincy Rideau posted a season-high 21 points and Alexis Yetna added 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
Rideau put the Bulls ahead 79-75 with 2:39 remaining after he scored six straight points, but Stallworth answered with a 3-point play and a layup to give the Bulldogs an 80-79 advantage. Collins regained the lead for USF with a pair of free throws before Connor Kern scored on the ensuing possession to put The Citadel ahead by one.
Kern had a steal on the next USF possession and Stallworth hit two free throws after drawing a foul to extend the lead to three points. Collins had two three-point attempts over the final seven seconds to try and tie the game and force overtime.
ECU 52, High Point 55
Despite having multiple chances to take the lead in the final minutes, ECU was unable to overtake High Point and fell to cross-state foe 55-52 inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Saturday.
The Panthers, who won 2 of 3 at the Bimini Jam in the Bahamas, improved to 3-3 on the season after opening the season 0-2. The Pirates had their two-game winning streak snapped and are 4-3.
Junior Jahaad Proctor was the only Panther to reach double figures, scoring a game-high 20 points. Fellow juniors Jamaal Wright and Bradonn Kamaga added nine points apiece for HPU.
ECU freshman Jayden Gardner led ECU in scoring for the fifth consecutive game, netting 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 10-of-12 at the free throw line. Sophomore Shawn Williams finished with 11 points.
Houston 76, BYU 62
Houston redshirt freshman forward Cedrick Alley Jr. posted a career-high with 19 points and added six rebounds and six assists to lead the Cougars to a 76-62 win over BYU inside the Marriott Center on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, Houston claimed the Men Against Breast Cancer Cougar Cup championship as the only undefeated team in the tournament. Alley and junior guard Armoni Brooks were named to the All-Tournament Team, while senior guard Corey Davis Jr. was selected as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Returning to the Cougars' lineup after missing all but two games with injury a year ago, Alley drained 7-of-11 shots from the field, including a 5-of-8 from behind the 3-point line, and tied with senior point guard Galen Robinson Jr. for game-high honors with six assists.
The game was close early with BYU grabbing a 13-12 lead on Yoeli Childs' jumper with 13:54 left in the first half. However, the Cougars scored the game's next six points on two layups from Davis and a layup from freshman guard Nate Hinton to build a lead they would never relinquish.
The Cougars continued their offensive momentum in the second half and built a 63-45 lead on sophomore forward Brison Gresham's dunk with 8:28 remaining in the game.
BYU used a 10-2 run over the next three minutes to move to within 65-55 with 5:23 remaining and bring most of the 10,959 in attendance to their feet. Fortunately, the Cougars responded with the game's next 11 points, including the final nine from Davis for a 76-55 lead.
Davis set a career high with 24 points, topping his previous best of 22 against Alabama A&M in the season opener on Nov. 10. The Lafayette, La., native added three rebounds with four assists and three steals.
Senior forward Breaon Bready finished with 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting and led the Cougars with seven rebounds, including three offensive, to help lead Houston to its fifth win against BYU in the last six meetings.
-/rv UCF 66, Northern Kentucky 53
UCF returned home and continued its winning ways from the road trip, defeating previously undefeated Northern Kentucky 66-53 Saturday at CFE Arena.
The Knights (5-1), now winners of four in a row, used a 25-8 run at the start of the second half to pull away from the Norse (6-1) and earn their second home victory of the 2018-19 campaign.
Senior center Tacko Fall scored six of the Knights' first 11 points in the second to increase UCF's two-point halftime advantage to 11, at 45-34 early on in the final 20 minutes of action.
Fall was successful all night, continuing his solid play from the Myrtle Beach Invitational. He finished the night with a season-high 20 points on 7-of-8 from the field, nine rebounds and one blocked shot.
Northern Kentucky, which won the Horizon League regular season championship last year, came into Saturday averaging 85.7 points per game.
The Knights defense, which has now held three its last four opponents under 60 points, was able to clamp down on the Norse in the second half. After allowing NKU to shoot 6-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first half, UCF allowed only two second-half threes on 15 Norse attempts.
For the sixth time in six games as a Knight, Aubrey Dawkins scored in double figures. Dawkins totaled 12 points, including two three-pointers, while B.J. Taylor chipped in 10 and Collin Smith added seven. Terrell Allen led the way with five assists and had no turnovers.
The Knights outrebounded Northern Kentucky 51-35, another season high for UCF. The Black and Gold outscored the Norse 14-5 in second-chance points.
Cincinnati 71, Ole Miss 57
Junior guard Jarron Cumberland scored a game-high 25 points, while a stingy defense held Ole Miss to a season low in field goal percentage enabling Cincinnati to capture the Emerald Coast Classic championship with a 71-57 victory Saturday.
The encounter was a rematch of the inaugural 2014 Emerald Coast Classic championship which was won by Ole Miss, 66-54. This time around Cincinnati took a chapter out of Ole Miss' playbook, holding the Rebels to a season-low in point production - 22.8 points under their offensive average of 79.8 points entering the game. Ole Miss came into the game, averaging 8.0 three-point baskets but was held to a season-low three treys in 24 attempts - a 14.3 shooting percentage.
Cumberland, who was named the tournament's outstanding player, hit 13 of 14 free throws while the Bearcats had twice as many free throw attempts (35) than Ole Miss (17).
Redshirt junior forward Trevon Scott, sophomore guard Keith Williams and senior Cane Broom each tallied nine points for Cincinnati. Scott grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as Cincinnati outrebounded Ole Miss, 33-27. Broome, who also was named to the all-tournament team, collected four assists and two steals.
Trailing, 37-29 the Rebels scored the last five points of the first half on two free throws by reserve center Dominik Olejniczak and a three-point basket from Devontae Shuler that just beat the buzzer. Ole Miss rode that late momentum to tie the game at 41-41 on a jumper by Shuler with 14:47, but Cincinnati responded reeling eight straight points to erect a 48-41 lead and never looked back.
UPCOMING GAMES