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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Top 25 capsules: No. 12 Houston tops No. 20 Cincinnati for outright AAC title

Houston's Corey Davis Jr., center, passes against Cincinnati's Tre Scott, left, and Logan Johnson (0) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, March 10, 2019, in Cincinnati. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)
Associated Press

Corey Davis Jr. scored a career-high 31 points Sunday, and visiting No. 12 Houston dominated the second half for an 85-69 victory over No. 20 Cincinnati that clinched the American Athletic Conference’s regular-season title outright.

The Cougars (29-2, 16-2) knocked off the defending champs and earned their first league title since 1992 in the Southwest Conference. Their 29 regular-season wins are a school record.

Down by six early in the second half, Nate Hinton hit back-to-back 3s that started a 35-12 spurt. Davis’ back-to-back 3s put the Cougars up by 17 points and sent Cincinnati fans headed for the exits with 4:22 to go.

Last year, the Bearcats (25-6, 14-4) won the regular-season title and the AAC Tournament, beating Houston in the title game. This time, the Cougars swept the season series, winning in Cincinnati for the first time after 16 losses.

Jarron Cumberland scored 20 points for Cincinnati.

NO. 21 WISCONSIN 73, OHIO STATE 67, OT: Khalil Iverson had a career-high 22 points and 14 rebounds as Wisconsin survived Ohio State’s second-half rally in Columbus, Ohio.

Wisconsin (22-9, 14-6) led by as many as 23 points early in the second half. But Ohio State (18-13, 8-12) outscored the Badgers 27-5 over the last seven minutes of regulation to force overtime.

Wisconsin’s defense held tough as the Badgers outscored the Buckeyes 10-4 in the extra period to win it.

Ethan Happ, despite being routinely double-teamed, had 16 points, 14 boards and eight assists for the Badgers, who secured the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament later this week in Chicago.

C.J. Jackson, a senior playing his last scheduled game at Value City Arena, led the Buckeyes with 22 points.

NO. 22 WOFFORD 81, ETSU 72: Fletcher Magee made six 3-pointers and scored 26 points, Cameron Jackson added 20 points and seven rebounds, and Wofford beat East Tennessee State to advance to the Southern Conference championship game in Asheville, North Carolina.

Magee, the Southern Conference player of the year, made 10 of 14 shots from the field and 6 of 7 from 3-point range, including two on which he twisted almost 180 degrees in the air to get the shot off. Jackson finished 9 of 12 from the floor and was dominant in the second half for the Terriers (28-4).

Magee needs seven 3-pointers to become the NCAA Division I career leader.

Daivien Williamson led ETSU (24-9) with 17 points and Mladen Armus had 15.