With an American Athletic Conference tie on the line No. 20 Cincinnati welcomed No. 12 Houston in for Senior Day, the last home game for Cane Broome and Justin Jenifer’s last home game. Big time game on CBS with two of the conference`s best.
Cane Broome took Keith Williams spot in the starting lineup per Senior Day tradition. With all eyes on the seniors, Nysier Brooks came out fast punishing all Houston big men, with six points in the first segment (4:11) outscoring the road team 6-5. They were able to push the lead to as much as seven points, but after that Houston kept clawing back. Cincinnati didn’t do a good job taking advantage of Houston’s getting early foul trouble with 13:05 left in the first half besides not getting many attempts Jenifer missed a front end of a one in one and Jarron Cumberland missed two. It seemed Cincinnati like they had a shot to go into the half with a tie, but Corey Davis, Jr. made two field throws to give Houston A 37-35 lead. Davis, Jr. had 14 points at the half, followed by DeJon Jarreau with seven. Cumberland led the way with 12 points, followed by Brooks with 10 points and Broome with seven. Houston shot 44.4% from three and were up 20-14 in the rebound battle.
Cincinnati pushed the lead up to six points after a lay-up by Keith Williams that had Fifth Third rocking, but after that it turned into the Davis, Jr. show with Nate Hinton, Armoni Brooks and Jarreau as the co-stars finishing the game on a 44 to 22 run.. Cincinnati had no answer for Davis, Jr. as he finished with 31 points and six assists. Hinton finished with 16 points (4-of-4 from three) and 11 rebounds in just 18 minutes of play. Jarreau finished with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Brooks had 14 points, six rebounds and two steals. Cumberland finished with 20 points. Brooks finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
Houston dominated Cincinnati on the glass 42-28, 18 of the 42 were on the offensive side of the ball. The reason to highlight the amount of offensive rebounds is the fact that Houston shot 52.2% from three and 46.2% from the field. In all honesty it Houston came into Fifth Third Arena in dominated on both sides of the ball. Seniors Jenifer and Broome combined 2-of-16 from the field, 1-of-9 from three, nine points and seven assists. It wasn’t a great day for the seniors in the 85-69 loss.
Houston finishes the season AAC Champions and Cincinnati is alone at the second spot with a 25-6 overall and 14-4 in conference. They will play in Memphis in the AAC Tournament on Friday at 7 p.m.
Corey Davis Jr. scored a career-high 31 points Sunday, and No. 12 @UHCougarMBK took over in the second half for an 85-69 victory over No. 20 Cincinnati Sunday afternoon that clinched the outight #AmericanHoops regular-season title. pic.twitter.com/ibI40HpE6R
— American MBB (@American_MBB) March 10, 2019
