TicketsFORT WORTH, Texas – The Cincinnati men's basketball team used a 12-0 run over the final three minutes to pull away from East Carolina and pick up a 74-63 win during opening round action of the American Athletic Conference Championship on Thursday at Dickies Arena.
Senior guard David DeJulius scored 22 points to lead the eighth-seeded Bearcats to a third win of 2021-22 over the ninth-seeded Pirates. Junior wing Jeremiah Davenport added 11 points, while sophomore guard Mike Saunders, Jr. added 10 points off the bench and senior center Abdul Ado tallied three blocks.
The Bearcats, who made 10 three-pointers for the 10th time this season, move on to face No. 1 seed Houston on Friday at 1 p.m. ET.
The game featured 14 ties and 16 lead changes.
After Davenport buried a 3-pointer to put UC in front 62-60 with 4:12 left, East Carolina star guard Tristan Newton (26 points) answered with a 3 of his own.
Davenport responded with a mid-range jumper to put Cincinnati back in front 64-63 with 3:27 left.
After junior guard Mika Adams-Woods secured an offensive rebound, DeJulius drilled a step-back jumper with just under two minutes remaining to put Cincinnati in front 66-63. He added two free throws 30 seconds later to extend Cincinnati's lead to 5.
Adams-Woods and DeJulius combined to make 8-of-8 free throws in the final 1:16 to give Cincinnati the victory.
East Carolina led 41-40 at halftime and took a 45-40 lead early in the second half.
Cincinnati got a spark when redshirt freshman post Viktor Lakhin took a charge on Newton to spark a 6-0 run. Senior forward Hayden Koval had a dunk and Saunders, Jr. buried a wide-open three-pointer to tie the game 47-47 with 14:02 left.
After Newman III's free throw put Cincinnati up 48-47, East Carolina ended UC's 6-0 run with a 3-pointer from Robinson-White with 13 minutes left.
The teams would trade baskets and leads until the final minutes.
FROM WES MILLER
"It's been a tough stretch here over the last month. And we've been in a number of really close games. And we haven't been able to close them out down the stretch. We've also spent the year in practice working at it and talking about it, about having an identity being built around our defense, being able to get stops when it matters. And it was great to see that come together tonight down the stretch."
NOTABLE
-UC has won five-straight AAC Tournament openers.
-Cincinnati improved to 18-2 in the all-time series, including 11-2 in the AAC era.
-The Bearcats had seven turnovers, their 10th game with single-digit turnovers.
-UC is 7-2 when Mike Saunders Jr. scores in double-figures, all off the bench. He is 6-for-9 from deep his last three games (2-of-3 in each).
-Two of Jarrett Hensley's three treys this year are against ECU. He has also played double-figure minutes in three-straight games.
-David DeJulius (22 points) scored in double-figures for the 23rd time.
-John Newman III's five assists matched a career-high (last: Nov. 16 vs. Alabama A&M).
-Abdul Ado had three blocks, his fifth time with at least that many. UC has won all five of those contests.
Senior guard David DeJulius scored 22 points to lead the eighth-seeded Bearcats to a third win of 2021-22 over the ninth-seeded Pirates. Junior wing Jeremiah Davenport added 11 points, while sophomore guard Mike Saunders, Jr. added 10 points off the bench and senior center Abdul Ado tallied three blocks.
The Bearcats, who made 10 three-pointers for the 10th time this season, move on to face No. 1 seed Houston on Friday at 1 p.m. ET.
The game featured 14 ties and 16 lead changes.
After Davenport buried a 3-pointer to put UC in front 62-60 with 4:12 left, East Carolina star guard Tristan Newton (26 points) answered with a 3 of his own.
Davenport responded with a mid-range jumper to put Cincinnati back in front 64-63 with 3:27 left.
After junior guard Mika Adams-Woods secured an offensive rebound, DeJulius drilled a step-back jumper with just under two minutes remaining to put Cincinnati in front 66-63. He added two free throws 30 seconds later to extend Cincinnati's lead to 5.
Adams-Woods and DeJulius combined to make 8-of-8 free throws in the final 1:16 to give Cincinnati the victory.
East Carolina led 41-40 at halftime and took a 45-40 lead early in the second half.
Cincinnati got a spark when redshirt freshman post Viktor Lakhin took a charge on Newton to spark a 6-0 run. Senior forward Hayden Koval had a dunk and Saunders, Jr. buried a wide-open three-pointer to tie the game 47-47 with 14:02 left.
After Newman III's free throw put Cincinnati up 48-47, East Carolina ended UC's 6-0 run with a 3-pointer from Robinson-White with 13 minutes left.
The teams would trade baskets and leads until the final minutes.
FROM WES MILLER
"It's been a tough stretch here over the last month. And we've been in a number of really close games. And we haven't been able to close them out down the stretch. We've also spent the year in practice working at it and talking about it, about having an identity being built around our defense, being able to get stops when it matters. And it was great to see that come together tonight down the stretch."
NOTABLE
-UC has won five-straight AAC Tournament openers.
-Cincinnati improved to 18-2 in the all-time series, including 11-2 in the AAC era.
-The Bearcats had seven turnovers, their 10th game with single-digit turnovers.
-UC is 7-2 when Mike Saunders Jr. scores in double-figures, all off the bench. He is 6-for-9 from deep his last three games (2-of-3 in each).
-Two of Jarrett Hensley's three treys this year are against ECU. He has also played double-figure minutes in three-straight games.
-David DeJulius (22 points) scored in double-figures for the 23rd time.
-John Newman III's five assists matched a career-high (last: Nov. 16 vs. Alabama A&M).
-Abdul Ado had three blocks, his fifth time with at least that many. UC has won all five of those contests.