No. 1 Houston claimed the outright American Athletic Conference men's basketball regular season title Saturday, February 25.

Saturday, February 25
South Florida 71, SMU 67 - Box Score
No. 1 Houston 76, East Carolina 57 - Box Score

South Florida 71, SMU 67 - Box Score
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Harris scored 30 points and secured the victory with a free throw with 32 seconds left as South Florida took down SMU 71-67 on Saturday night.

Harris shot 7 for 12 (5 for 9 from 3-point range) and 11 of 14 from the free throw line for the Bulls (13-16, 6-10 American Athletic Conference). Russel Tchewa added 12 points while going 5 of 6 and 2 of 4 from the free throw line, and he also had nine rebounds. Jamir Chaplin went 4 of 5 from the field to finish with 11 points.

Zhuric Phelps led the Mustangs (10-19, 5-11) in scoring, finishing with 22 points and five steals. Efe Odigie added 14 points and 10 rebounds for SMU. Zach Nutall also had 13 points.

Chaplin scored eight points in the first half and South Florida went into the break trailing 38-26. Harris scored a team-high 27 points for South Florida in the second half, including his game-winning shot in the final minute.

No. 1 Houston 76, East Carolina 57 - Box Score
GREENVILLE. N.C. (AP) — Marcus Sasser scored 22 points to help top-ranked Houston beat East Carolina 76-57 on Saturday night and clinch outright possession of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.

Tramon Mark added 20 points for the Cougars (27-2, 15-1), while J’Wan Roberts had 17 points and 12 rebounds in Houston’s ninth straight victory.

And as with the long-running formula under Kelvin Sampson, the Cougars didn’t need a huge offensive performance to assert control of this one while leaning on defense and rebounding.

By halftime, the Cougars had blocked more shots (five) than the Pirates had even made (three) and led by 17. ECU finished the game shooting 32%, including 52% after halftime while trailing big, and Houston claimed a 48-28 rebounding advantage that included 19 second-chance points.

Sasser got off to a fast start before having to leave after rolling his right ankle, which happened as he bumped into ECU screener Brandon Johnson away from the ball. He had to be helped off the court and taken to the locker room, though he returned minutes later to make it a brief absence for the team’s leading scorer.

East Carolina (14-14, 5-10) had an energetic home crowd for the first-ever visit from a No. 1-ranked team to Minges Coliseum, as well as the program’s first game against a top-ranked opponent in more than 31 years. But the Cougars never trailed and led for all but 56 seconds.

Ezra Ausar scored 15 points to lead the Pirates, which got as close as 50-35 after halftime on Jaden Walker’s 3-pointer at the 11:37 mark. In fact, it was the first of three times that ECU pulled to within 15 — yet Houston answered immediately each time to keep the Pirates from sustaining any true momentum toward a stunning upset.