Cincinnati pulls away late to beat Wichita State 66-55

Jan 20, 2020, 06:16 am

WICHITA, Kan. -- Jarron Cumberland and Justin Jenifer combined to score 35 points and Cincinnati used two technical foul calls to pull away down the stretch and beat Wichita State 66-55 on Saturday.

Cincinnati had its largest lead of the game at 51-46 when Erik Stevenson and Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall were whistled for technical fouls after Stevenson was charged with a foul on Cumberland. Jenifer sank all four free throws allotted because of the technicals and Cumberland sank both ends of a 1-and-1 to put the Bearcats up 57-46 with 5:31 remaining and they coasted from there.

Cumberland finished with 18 points and six rebounds for the Bearcats (16-3, 5-1 American Athletic Conference), while Jenifer scored 17. Keith Williams added 14 points and Tre Scott grabbed 10 rebounds. Cincinnati led 24-23 at halftime.

Markis McDuffie topped the Shockers (8-9, 1-4) with 21 points and five rebounds. McDuffie, who came in tied with East Carolina's Jayden Gardner for the conference scoring lead at 22.0 per game, topped 20 points for a fourth straight game. Samajae Haynes-Jones added 11 points and his 3-pointer gave Wichita State its last lead at 46-45 before Cincinnati closed with a 21-9 run.

Visiting Cincinnati shot 35 free throws while the Shockers took just seven.