TicketsFORT WORTH, Texas – Cincinnati saw its run through the AAC Championship end with a 91-54 loss to No. 7 Houston in the finals Sunday at Dickies Arena.
Jeremiah Davenport scored a team-high 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers to lead the Bearcats, who were making their fourth consecutive appearance in the league tournament championship game. Mamoudou Diarra came off the bench to add 10 points and six rebounds. Keith Williams added eight points and five rebounds.
Davenport was named to the AAC Championship All-Tournament Team.
Quentin Grimes led Houston with 21 points and five 3-pointers. Marcus Sasser added 16 points. DeJon Jarreau contributed 10 points and seven assists.
Houston, who fell short to Cincinnati in each of the last two tournament championship games in 2018 and 2019 claimed their first title as a member of the AAC and snapped UC's eight-game win streak in the tournament.
Houston led from the start. After the Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 early lead Davenport and Mika Adams-Woods hit 3-pointers to pull UC within 8-6 four minutes into the game. A jumper from Mason Madsen at 13:27 kept UC within 13-9.
Brison Gresham hit a 3-pointer and later a jumper to give Houston a 23-13 lead at 8:37 and the Bearcats were never able to cut the deficit inside 10 points the rest of the game.
Houston led by as 18 points in the first half and owned a 41-27 advantage at halftime. A driving layup by Mike Saunders Jr. cut UC's deficit to 41-29 40 seconds into the second half. However, Houston responded with a 12-0 run to take a 53-29 advantage with 15:37 to go and were never threatened afterward.
Houston shot 56.1 percent from the floor while limiting UC to 27.7 percent shooting. The Cougars tallied 32 points in the paint.
Despite the setback, UC finishes the season winning nine of its last 13 games after starting the season 3-7.
Jeremiah Davenport scored a team-high 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers to lead the Bearcats, who were making their fourth consecutive appearance in the league tournament championship game. Mamoudou Diarra came off the bench to add 10 points and six rebounds. Keith Williams added eight points and five rebounds.
Davenport was named to the AAC Championship All-Tournament Team.
Quentin Grimes led Houston with 21 points and five 3-pointers. Marcus Sasser added 16 points. DeJon Jarreau contributed 10 points and seven assists.
Houston, who fell short to Cincinnati in each of the last two tournament championship games in 2018 and 2019 claimed their first title as a member of the AAC and snapped UC's eight-game win streak in the tournament.
Houston led from the start. After the Cougars jumped out to a 6-0 early lead Davenport and Mika Adams-Woods hit 3-pointers to pull UC within 8-6 four minutes into the game. A jumper from Mason Madsen at 13:27 kept UC within 13-9.
Brison Gresham hit a 3-pointer and later a jumper to give Houston a 23-13 lead at 8:37 and the Bearcats were never able to cut the deficit inside 10 points the rest of the game.
Houston led by as 18 points in the first half and owned a 41-27 advantage at halftime. A driving layup by Mike Saunders Jr. cut UC's deficit to 41-29 40 seconds into the second half. However, Houston responded with a 12-0 run to take a 53-29 advantage with 15:37 to go and were never threatened afterward.
Houston shot 56.1 percent from the floor while limiting UC to 27.7 percent shooting. The Cougars tallied 32 points in the paint.
Despite the setback, UC finishes the season winning nine of its last 13 games after starting the season 3-7.