Six American Athletic Conference men's basketball teams were in action on Friday (Nov. 22), with four coming away with victories, including Temple, who went on the road and defeated USC. Cincinnati and ECU picked up quarterfinal wins in their respective neutral-site tournaments.

Tulane 86, Middle Tennessee 74 - Box Score

CONWAY, S.C. (AP) -- Christion Thompson scored 25 points and Tulane held on to beat Middle Tennessee 86-74 on Friday in a Myrtle Beach Invitational consolation game.

Teshaun Hightower added 20 points and K.J. Lawson finished with 18 for the Green Wave (4-1). The difference came at the free-throw line, where Tulane was 26 of 30 while Middle Tennessee got to the line just seven times and made four.

The Green Wave led by 24 midway through the second half before the Blue Raiders (3-3) chipped away, closing to 79-71 on Tyson Jackson's dunk with just over a minute left. Thompson followed with a dunk and Hightower hit two free throws to put Tulane back up by double figures.

C.J. Jones scored 20 points and Jayce Johnson finished with 11 for Middle Tennessee, which shot 52% but lost its third straight.

Tulane hit 12 3-pointers while the Blue Raiders were 10 of 26.

Cincinnati 66, Illinois State 65 - Box Score

ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS (AP) -- Jarron Cumberland scored 23 points, including the game-winner with eight seconds left as Cincinnati rallied to defeat Illinois State 66-65 in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam on Friday night.

Chris Vogt had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Cincinnati (3-1). Tre Scott added 14 points and Keith Williams 12 for Cincinnati.

Dedric Boyd scored 18 points for the Redbirds (2-2), Zach Copeland added 12 points.

Illinois State slowly widened a 33-30 halftime lead to 10 points midway through the second half when Boyd buried a jumper to make it 57-47. Cincinnati, which was 21 of 28 at the foul line to the Redbirds' 5 of 9, used free throws to nibble away at the lead.

Cumberland hit a 3 that cut the gap to 63-60 with just under three minutes to go, and Williams drove for a layup, making it a one-point game, 63-62.

With 34 seconds remaining, Williams fed to Scott for a dunk and the Cincinnati lead, 64-63. Illinois State answered with a dunk, but Cumberland scored the winner with a layup and Illinois State missed a 3-point try with two seconds left.

ECU 85, Evansville 68 - Box Score 

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- Jayden Gardner poured in a season-high 28 points and East Carolina pulled away for an 85-68 victory over Evansville on Friday in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase.

Freshman Tristen Newton added 18 points for the Pirates (2-3), who led just 30-26 at halftime. Reserve Seth LeDay had 12 points, while Brandon Suggs scored 10.

Noah Frederking and reserve Sam Cunliffe topped the Purple Aces (3-2) with 17 points apiece. Artur Labinowicz came off the bench to score 12.

East Carolina sank 30 of 52 shots overall (58%), 4 of 11 from 3-point range and 21 of 28 foul shots (75%). Evansville shot just 40% from the floor and 41% from distance (13 of 32). The Purple Aces missed 12 of 29 free throws.

Xavier 75, UConn 74 (2OT) - Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Jason Carter’s two foul shots with 10.1 seconds left in the second overtime lifted No. 18 Xavier to a 75-74 victory over UConn and into the Charleston Classic championship on Friday night.

UConn had a final chance after Carter’s free throws, but Alterique Gilbert slipped driving to the bucket and Christian Vital’s desperation shot fell short of the basket as the horn sounded on a raucous, dramatic contest.

Naji Marshall led the Musketeers (6-0) with 21 points and Paul Scruggs had 19. But neither of them were around at the end after fouling out in what became a game of attrition.

Tyrique Jones had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Xavier.

The Musketeers looked finished in regulation after Tyler Polley hit a 3-pointer to extend the Huskies’ lead to 54-49 with 96 seconds left. That’s when Marshall, the 6-foot-7 junior, took over in scoring 13 of his team’s next 14 points.

UConn had a final chance to win before overtime, but Jones skied high to block Gilbert’s driving attempt.

Freshman James Bouknight looked like he’d be the hero for UConn, tying things with a three-point play at the end of the first overtime, then putting his team ahead 74-73 with a basket with 20.6 seconds to go.

But it was Bouknight who fouled Carter moments later to set up the final points. Bouknight, playing his second college game, led the Huskies with 19 points.

This was gritty, hard-fought, back-and-forth contest. And the fans were into it as well.

Both Xavier and UConn have had strong followings the first two games and the Charleston arena and the yelling was loud on both sides as chants of “Let's Go Huskies” merged with “Let’s Go X”. The Musketeer fans continually took up the dog-like bark to urge their team on defense.

It sure did the trick the first 20 minutes as Xavier held the Huskies to their worst-shooting half of the young season at 29.7 percent (8 of 27). UConn had nine turnovers the first half, not far from the 12 a game they averaged coming in.

The Musketeers really dug in with about seven minutes left after Tyler Polley drew UConn to 18-17. That’s when Xavier closed the period with a 13-4 surge. Scruggs have five points and Jones four during the run as UConn shot just 2 for 11.

Oregon 78, Houston 66 - Box Score

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- Anthony Mathis had another big shooting night to help No. 11 Oregon get another big win.

Mathis shot 5 for 9 on 3-pointers to finish with 18 points and the Ducks followed along for a 78-66 victory over Houston on Friday night.

''Got a lot of good looks,'' Mathis said. ''Once again my teammates were doing a great job of finding me when I am open.''

Mathis, a graduate transfer from New Mexico who entered making 68.2% from beyond the arc, helped the Ducks shoot 10 for 20 on 3s and 54% overall.

''We knew Anthony was a pretty good shooter and the guys are looking for him,'' Oregon coach Dana Altman said.

Payton Pritchard added 16 points and five assists for the Ducks (5-0), while Francis Okoro scored 12. Oregon had 17 assists on 26 field goals.

''The ball movement was good and we had pretty good looks,'' Altman said. ''I liked the shots we got from (3-point range).''

Houston coach Kelvin Sampson had a lot of praise for Pritchard.

''The strength of Oregon's team is their senior point guard,'' Sampson said. ''He's in complete control of every facet of their game ... he is a tremendous, tremendous college point guard.

''He's why Oregon is going to be good this year.''

Caleb Milles led the Cougars (2-2) with 21 points.

The Ducks pushed their lead to double digits for the first time at 45-35 on a three-point play by Pritchard and a 3-pointer by Mathis, prompting a Houston timeout with 15:45 left.

The Cougars momentarily cut it to six, but Mathis' four-point play started a 9-0 run that extended Oregon's lead to 56-41 with 10 minutes remaining.

Oregon led 32-27 after a first half that was largely a battle between the 3-point shooting of the Ducks and Houston's dominance on the inside. The Ducks made six of 12 3-pointers, including three during a 15-2 run that gave them a 29-24 lead.

Houston countered with 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, contributing to a 22-13 overall edge on the boards, and used those second-chance possessions to score 13 points. The Cougars finished with a 38-26 advantage in rebounds, grabbing 17 on the offensive end that led to 21 second-chance points.

''We know one thing we've got to work on, the boards,'' Altman said.

Sampson said the Cougars ''have to be good'' on the boards because ''we're not a very good shooting team.''

Overall, the Ducks shot 50% in the first half (12 of 24) to Houston's 35.3% (12 of 34). The Cougars were 1 of 11 on 3-pointers.

Temple 70, USC 61 - Box Score

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Josh Pierre-Louis scored 15 points and was one of four Temple players in double figures as the Owls defeated USC 70-61 on Friday night.

The Trojans trailed 31-30 at halftime but scored the first eight points of the second half to take their largest lead. But the Owls would respond with a 26-8 run over the next eight minutes to take control.

Temple was 10 of 18 from the field, including four 3-pointers as it held a 55-44 advantage with 8:45 remaining. De'Vondre Perry scored eight points during the run while Nate Pierre-Louis and Quinton Rose had five each.

Rose and Justyn Hamilton scored 12 points apiece and Perry added 10 for the Owls, who are 4-0 under first-year coach Aaron McKie.

USC got within 66-61 with 48 seconds remaining but could not draw closer. Onyeka Okongwu led the Trojans (5-1) with 17 points and Ehtan Anderson added 12.

Temple led by as many as nine in the first half and was up 29-22 with 3:01 remaining on Josh Pierre-Louis' layup before the Trojans scored eight straight points. Isaiah Mobley's layup with 16 seconds remaining gave USC its first lead (31-30) but the Owls would take the lead into the locker room at halftime after Pierre-Louis got a steal under the Temple basket and made a layup at the buzzer.