TicketsHOUSTON — An undermanned Cincinnati men’s basketball team dropped a 76-54 decision to No. 10/7 Houston Saturday afternoon at the Fertitta Center. With the loss, the Bearcats drop to 11-11 on the year and 3-6 in the Big 12, while the Cougars improve to 19-2, 7-1 in conference play.
Cincinnati already was without Sencire Harris (illness) and Shon Abaev (lower body injury), who didn’t make the trip to Houston, but then saw starting center Moustapha Thiam go down with a lower body injury late in the first half.
Jalen Celestine led Cincinnati with 15 points, while Keyshuan Tillery added a career-high 14, including three triples. Milos Uzan led Houston with 16, while Chris Cenac Jr., Emanuel Sharp and Isiah Harwell poured in 13 apiece.
Both teams started cold from the field, each going 2-for-9 as Houston opened a 6-4 lead on an Emanuel Sharp right-wing three at the 14:38 mark. After Houston extended its advantage to 10-5, a Kerr Kriisa corner triple made it a two-point game at 10-8 with 12:32 remaining.
But the Bearcats hit a dry spell again, coming up empty on their next five possessions as the Cougars pushed their lead to 14-8. However, a Day Day Thomas three and a Celestine baseline jumper, sandwiched around an Isiah Harwell jumper for the Cougars, trimmed the deficit to 16-13 with just under eight minutes left to play in the half.
Houston then answered with an 11-2 spurt, including three triples from Cenac Jr., to extend its lead to 27-15 with 3:48 remaining. A Jizzle James triple at the 2:50 mark but an end to the Cougar run but the Bearcats would get no closer than 12 as Houston took a 32-20 advantage into the break.
James led Cincinnati with five points in the opening 20 minutes, while Cenac Jr. scored 13 on 5-of-7 shooting to lead the Cougars.
A 9-3 Cougar run, capped by a Kingston Flemings pullup jumper, pushed the Houston lead to 41-23 just over three minutes into the second half. A Tillery three cut the deficit to 44-30 with 14:43 left to play but Houston followed with a 13-3 run to put the game out of reach.
Cincinnati returns home to take on West Virginia at 7 p.m. Thursday.