Bearcats roar back from 15 down, beat No. 21 Houston 64-62

CINCINNATI (AP) — Keith Williams scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half and Cincinnati rallied from a 15-point deficit in the second half and beat No. 21 Houston 64-62 on Saturday night.

Williams scored on a floater with 2:02 left, giving Cincinnati (14-7, 7-2 American Athletic Conference) its first lead, 61-59, since the Bearcats led 8-5. Williams followed with two free throws, generating roars from the sellout crowd of 12,189.

Despite massive struggles at the free throw line, Jarron Cumberland finished with 17 points for Cincinnati. Cumberland, hitting free throws at a .743 clip entering the game, went 5 for 12.

Trevon Scott matched his season high with 16 points as the Bearcats won their fourth straight.

The Bearcats capitalized on Houston missing 14 of its last 15 shots from the field.

Marcus Sasser scored 17 points to lead the Cougars (17-5, 7-2), who slipped into second place in the AAC.

Nate Hinton added 16 for the Cougars, who had a five-game winning streak snapped.

BIG PICTURE

Houston: The Cougars slipped to 1-17 in program history in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati: The Bearcats moved into a tie with Houston for second place in the AAC.

UP NEXT

Houston: Will Cougars’ coach Kelvin Sampson pay homage to former Houston coach Guy Lewis and clutch a red-and-white polka dot towel on the bench during Thursday’s “Throwback Thursday” game against Tulane?

Cincinnati: The Bearcats play the first of two straight AAC road games on Thursday at No. 23 Wichita State.