UTSA's Jordan Ivy-Curry hit a 3-point field goal with three seconds to go to defeat Tulane in American Athletic Conference action on Wednesday, January 24.
South Florida 75, Temple 69 - Box Score
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Kasean Pryor had 20 points in South Florida's 75-69 victory against Temple on Wednesday night.
Pryor added 10 rebounds for the Bulls (12-5, 5-1 American Athletic Conference). Selton Miguel added 16 points while shooting 4 for 9 and 8 of 9 from the free throw line, and he also had five assists. Chris Youngblood had 11 points and was 3 of 8 shooting (3 for 5 from 3-point range).
Matteo Picarelli finished with 23 points for the Owls (8-12, 1-6). Temple also got 16 points and three steals from Hysier Miller. In addition, Jahlil White had 13 points and six assists.
East Carolina 54, Wichita State 52 - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Brandon Johnson's 12 points helped East Carolina defeat Wichita State 54-52 on Wednesday night.
Bobby Pettiford Jr.'s dunk stretched the Pirates' lead to 54-47 with about three minutes to play. Dalen Ridgnal missed a potential game-tying 3 for Wichita State with two seconds left.
Johnson also had seven rebounds and three steals for the Pirates (10-10, 3-4 American Athletic Conference). RJ Felton added 10 points while finishing 5 of 15 from the floor. Ezra Ausar shot 4 of 9 from the field and 1 for 3 from the line to finish with 10 points.
Harlond Beverly led the Shockers (8-11, 0-6) in scoring, finishing with 18 points and six rebounds. Ridgnal added eight points and six rebounds. Colby Rogers had seven points. The loss was the Shockers' eighth straight.
East Carolina went into the half ahead of Wichita State 26-22. Jaden Walker put up six points in the half. East Carolina took the lead for good with 7:13 remaining in the second half on a dunk from Johnson to make it a 45-43 game.
No. 22 Florida Atlantic 69, Rice 56 - Box Score
HOUSTON (AP) Nick Boyd scored 18 points, Johnell Davis added 14 points and nine rebounds and No. 22 Florida Atlantic extended its winning streak to five games with a 69-56 victory over Rice on Wednesday night.
Boyd scored 11 points in the first half as FAU built a 33-26 halftime lead. Davis and Boyd combined to shoot 10 of 17 from the field.
“Just taking open shots and they went in,” Boyd said. “We’re starting to find our groove a little bit, but I think we are light years away from where we’re going to be really soon.”
Alijah Martin added 14 points and eight rebounds for FAU (16-4, 6-1 American Athletic Conference), which outrebounded Rice 43-34 and held a 36-14 advantage in points in the paint. The Owls shot 44%.
“I feel like we’re playing much better than we did a month ago,” FAU coach Dusty May said. “We had a really productive pre-conference (schedule) where we played at a high level. We just didn’t do it as consistently as we needed to, and we’re still learning how difficult it is every single night getting a great effort from these conference opponents.”
Alem Huseinovic scored 16 points and Mekhi Mason added 13 for Rice (7-12, 1-5). The Owls, who have lost six of their last seven, shot 35%. Max Fiedler had 18 rebounds and eight assists.
Rice coach Scott Pera pointed to the Owls' defensive effort to keep FAU, which averages 84 points per game, to 69.
“Losing stinks,” Pera said. “I am disgusted thoroughly, but I also have some level of hope and encouragement because that was our best defensive effort of the year.”
Rice closed within 33-29 to open the second half, but FAU responded with an 11-2 run to extend its lead to 44-31 lead on a layup by Davis with 16 minutes remaining.
Trailing 51-39 with 10½ minutes remaining, Rice used a 9-2 spurt to cut the lead to five on a jumper by Mason with 6:45 left.
“We had got the looks we wanted; we got to the foul line; we had a chance to keep it close, cut it closer, make it closer and we missed six free throws in the second half,” Pera said. “That makes it hard.”
Rice would get no closer than five, and FAU scored five straight points to increase its lead to 62-52 with 3:12 left on a 3-pointer by Martin.
UTSA 89, Tulane 88 - Box Score
SAN ANTONIO (AP) Carlton Linguard led UTSA with 31 points and Jordan Ivy-Curry scored the game-winning 3-pointer with three seconds remaining as the Roadrunners defeated Tulane 89-88 on Wednesday night.
Linguard also added 10 rebounds and three blocks for the Roadrunners (8-12, 2-5 American Athletic Conference). Trey Edmonds scored 11 points while going 2 of 3 and 7 of 8 from the free throw line, and added eight rebounds.
The Green Wave (12-7, 3-4) were led by Kevin Cross, who posted 23 points and six rebounds. Jaylen Forbes added 23 points for Tulane. In addition, Collin Holloway had 11 points.