Houston comes up short against UConn

HARTFORD, Conn. — Jalen Adams scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half to lead sixth-seeded UConn over No. 3 Houston 74-63 on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament.

Rodney Purvis added 18 points for the Huskies (16-16), who fell behind 20-9 early before taking control of the game.

The Huskies lost to UH twice in the regular season and were 0-6 against the top-teams in the conference, but they won the third meeting in front of a loud pro-UConn crowd.

“I just want to thank the crowd, they were awesome,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “I could feel the energy in there and I know our players fed off it.”

Rob Gray Jr. scored 25 points for the Cougars (21-10), Galen Robinson Jr. added 17 and Damyean Dotson 15. Houston outscored UConn 28-16 in the paint.

The Cougars cut the deficit to two several times in the second half.

“Let’s be honest, Connecticut did a great job feeding off that crowd,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Their crowd was tremendous. That might have been the toughest crowd we have played in front of all year outside of SMU and at Cincinnati. That was a huge, huge deal for them having played (Friday) night.”

UConn shot 54.5 percent for the game and was 8-for-17 on 3-pointers. Houston hit 41.3 percent of its shots and was 6-for19 on 3-pointers. UConn’s defense held Houston without a field goal in the final 5:57 of the first half.

“We knew if we got stops, we were going to be able to get back in the game, stop them in transition,” Purvis said.

SMU 81, EAST CAROLINA 77

The 12th-ranked Mustangs squandered a 22-point halftime lead before rallying in the final minute against the Pirates.

“This is the best thing that could have happened,” SMU coach Tim Jankovich said. “We needed this. This will help us. We needed some of the feeling that we had today.”

Semi Ojeleye scored a career-high 36 points to lead SMU.

Sterling Brown added 16 points for the Mustangs (28-4). The AAC’s regularseason champions have won 14 straight and 24 of their last 25 games.

Kentrell Barkley, who has been battling tendinitis in his left knee, had 22 of his 24 points in the second half to lead East Carolina, which trailed by as many as 24 points in the first half. Caleb White had 17 points and Elijah Hughes added 15 for the Pirates (15-18).

CINCINNATI 80, TULSA 61

Kyle Washington scored 21 points, and Jacob Evans added 20 to lead the No. 15 Bearcats to a rout of the Golden Hurricane.

Troy Caupain added 15 points for the Bearcats (28-4), who led for all but 17 seconds and by as many as 24 points.

Corey Henderson Jr. had 15 points for Tulsa, which finished the season 15-17.

CENTRAL FLORIDA 84, MEMPHIS 54

Matt Williams had 19 points, including five 3-pointers, B.J. Taylor scored 14 with five assists, and the No. 4 seed Knights beat the fifthseeded Tigers.

UCF (21-10) will play top-seeded and No. 12-ranked SMU in the semifinals Saturday.

After a dunk by Rivers gave Memphis a 10-4 lead, the Tigers missed their next 14 attempts and went scoreless for 5½ minutes. UCF scored 18 straight points to start a 33-7 run. The Knights hit six 3-pointers during the stretch. UCF opened the second with an 11-1 run and cruised from there.