Tulsa
Cincinnati
TULSA FALLS TO CINCINNATI 56-47
3/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2015Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
| Box Score 
Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa dropped a 56-47 decision to the Cincinnati Bearcats Wednesday night in front of 5,840 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center to fall back into a tie for first-place in the American Athletic Conference.
Tulsa meets SMU in Dallas on Saturday afternoon to decide the American's regular season champion as both teams come into the game with 14-3 conference records. The Hurricane fell to 21-8 overall, as the Bearcats improved to 21-9 and 12-5 in the league.
Rashad Ray led Tulsa with 15 points, while James Woodard added 12 points for the Hurricane. Cincinnati's Farad Cobb, averaging only 7.9 points on the season, scored a game-high 22 points and Troy Caupain added 12 points for the Bearcats.
Cincinnati led for all but 2:03 of the game as the Bearcats never relinquished the lead after going ahead 5-4 at the 16:22 mark. The Hurricane could get only as close as three points once in the final 20 minutes.
Trailing 27-20 at the intermission, Tulsa scored the first two points of the second half before Cincinnati rattled off the next six points to take a double-digit lead at 33-22 with 14:57 left on the game clock. But, Tulsa answered by going on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to four points, 35-31, at the 12:30 mark. Ray and Woodard knocked down back-to-back treys to get the run started, and Rashad Smith's dunk off of a missed free throw made it 31 for Tulsa.
After the Bearcats went ahead by as many as seven points in the next four minutes, Tulsa cut the deficit to three points at the 6:10 mark when Smith hit 1-of-2 free throws to make the score 45-42. Cincinnati answered, going ahead by five points on a Gary Clark jumper at the 5:38 mark. Neither team would score for the next 3:51 until Cobbs' three-point put the Bearcats up by eight points, 50-42, with 1:47 left in the game.
The Bearcats made 6-of-10 free throws over the final minute to take the 56-47 win in the only meeting of the regular season between the two teams.
Octavius Ellis' jumper at 16:22 of the first half put Cincinnati ahead 5-4 to start the game, and the Bearcats never surrendered the lead the remainder of the contest. The Bearcats took its largest first-half lead of 12 points at 25-13 with 4:29 left on the first half clock. Tulsa then scored the next six points on three-pointers from James Woodard and Ray to cut the Bearcats lead to six points at the 1:36 mark.
A jumper by Cincinnati's Kevin Johnson and a free throw by Woodard for Tulsa saw the Bearcats go into halftime with a 27-20 lead.
Tulsa shot just 28-percent from the field in the first half, while Cincinnati knocked down 46-percent of its field goals. Tulsa's starters converted on just 5-of-22 field goals in the first 20 minutes.
Ray and Smith each scored six first-half points, while Johnson and Farad Cobb and led the Bears with seven points apiece.
Tulsa closes out the regular season on the road Sunday looking to avenge an earlier loss against the SMU Mustangs, as the American Athletic Conference regular season title is on the line. The game will be played at 2:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPNU.
The American Athletic Conference Tournament takes place March 12-15 in Hartford, CT. Tulsa will have a bye in the first round and will play a quarterfinal game on March 13. The conference championship bracket will be announced Sunday night.
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