PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The final day of the American Athletic Conference men's basketball regular season featured a nationally-ranked battle and two road victories. No. 12/12 Houston wrapped up the outright regular-season title with a win at No. 20/19, 85-69. It was its first win at Cincinnati in 17 tries. UConn and SMU both hit the road and came away with wins. The Huskies downed ECU in Greensville, 82-73, while the Mustangs triumphed over USF in Tampa, 77-71. The 2019 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship begins Thursday, March 14 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn.
Sunday, March 10
No. 12/12 Houston 85, No. 20/19 Cincinnati, 69
Corey Davis Jr. scored a career-high 31 points Sunday, and No. 12/12 Houston dominated the second half for an 85-69 victory over No. 20/19 Cincinnati that clinched the AAC's regular-season title outright.
The Cougars (29-2, 16-2) knocked off the defending champs and earned their first league title since 1992 in the Southwest Conference.
Down by six early in the second half, Nate Hinton hit back-to-back 3s that started a 35-12 spurt. Davis' back-to-back 3s put the Cougars up by 17 points and sent Cincinnati fans headed home with 4:22 to go.
Hinton added 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds as Houston scored at least 85 points for the fourth time in the past six games.
Last year, the Bearcats (25-6, 14-4) won the regular-season title and the American championship tournament, beating Houston in the title game. This time, the Cougars swept the season series, winning in Cincinnati for the first time after 16 losses.
The Bearcats were outrebounded 42-28, with the Cougars getting 18 offensive rebounds. Coach Mick Cronin said the rebounding performance was embarrassing and suggested he'd invite some of Cincinnati's football players to try out after such a poor showing.
The Cougars put themselves in position for a league title by beating the Bearcats 65-58 in Houston on Feb. 10, holding Cincinnati scoreless for the final 6:11.
Jarron Cumberland scored 20 points for Cincinnati on 4-of-11 shooting from the field.
Cincinnati held a slim lead through most of the first half, but Davis Jr. made a jump shot, a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws in the last 1:33 that sent the Cougars into halftime up 37-35. They missed eight of their first nine shots in the second half, and Cincinnati pulled ahead 47-41 .
Hinton hit back-to-back 3s that sparked the decisive run. The Cougars went 8 of 14 from beyond the arc in the second half while pulling away.
UConn 82, ECU 73
Sparked by the return of senior guard Jalen Adams UConn earned its first road win of the season, posting an 82-73 victory over ECU Sunday afternoon at Minges Coliseum. UConn improves to 15-16, while ECU drops to 10-19.
Sophomore Josh Carlton led the offense with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while classmate Tyler Polley tallied 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Junior Christian Vital tallied 16 points and senior Jalen Adams added a double-double of his own, posting 13 points and 12 assists. Sidney Wilson rounded out the five Huskies in double figures, finishing the game with 10 points and five rebounds.
ECU was led by Shawn Williams who matched a game-high with 20 points. Isaac Fleming put up a double-double with 18 points and 11 assists.
The Pirates jumped out to an early seven-point lead in the first half, with the home team connecting on three of its first four attempts from beyond the arc. The Huskies fought back to take the lead with 10:56 to play after a Polley triple from the corner.
UConn and East Carolina traded baskets over the ensuing nine minutes, before the Huskies closed the half on a 6-0 run to take a three-point lead into the locker room.
Back-and-forth action kicked off the second half and after ECU tied the game, a quick 11-2 spurt by UConn gave the visitors a 59-50 lead to with just over 10 minutes remaining.
The Pirates fought back to make it a two point game with 5:36 to go, capped off by a Jayden Gardener jumper.
Following free throws from Carlton and Adams, Wilson kick-started the UConn run with a rim-rattling dunk in transition. Adams, Polley and Carlton added inside baskets of their own to push the Husky lead to a dozen, and UConn pulled away for an 82-73 victory.
SMU 77, USF 71
Ethan Chargois had 19 points to lead five SMU players in double figures as the Mustangs defeated USF, 77-71, on Sunday.
Feron Hunt added a career-high 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Mustangs (14-16, 6-12), Jimmy Whitt Jr. scored 14, Jahmal McMurray 13 with six assists and Isiaha Mike scored 11.
Alexis Yetna had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulls (19-12, 8-10). David Collins added 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and Justin Brown scored 10.
The Mustangs leveled the season series against the Bulls with the win. South Florida defeated SMU 67-66 on Feb. 7. SMU finished the regular season by snapping its four-game losing streak.
USF built its largest lead of the game midway through the first half on a free throw by Yetna to give the Bulls a 22-16 advantage, but SMU answered with a 15-2 run to go ahead 33-26 at the 2:19 mark.
A three-pointer from Hunt with just over a minute remaining gave the Mustangs an eight-point lead at halftime.
SMU scored the first six points of the second half and would go on to shoot 63.6 percent over the final 20 minutes. The Mustangs missed just eight shots in the second half and led by as many as 15 points.
A three-pointer from USF's Rashun Williams cut the deficit to seven points with 1:53 remaining, but SMU used back-to-back baskets to push its lead back into double digits.
UPCOMING GAMES