Jalen Celestine and Jizzle James led five scorers in double figures with 18 points each in host Cincinnati’s 90-68 victory over BYU in a Big 12 game Tuesday night.
Moustapha Thiam had 16 points and nine rebounds, Baba Miller finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Day Day Thomas had 12 points and six assists for Cincinnati (17-13, 9-8 Big 12).
The Bearcats have won six of their last seven games and are inching closer to the NCAA Tournament bubble.
BYU (20-10, 8-9), on the other hand, continues to see its projected seeding fall, now having lost three straight games and four of its last five.
AJ Dybantsa had 23 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Cougars, making 7 of 21 shots, including 1 of 8 3-pointers. Robert Wright III had 21 points with no assists and four turnovers.
Cincinnati led by as many as 16 points in the first half before going into halftime up 43-31.
A 12-0 run, fueled by five points from Miller, allowed the Bearcats to gain separation with a 15-6 lead six minutes into the game.
Miller had 10 points and six rebounds by halftime while Celestine had 11 points.
The Cougars committed 10 turnovers in the half and Cincinnati had only three. The Bearcats outscored BYU 13-0 in points off turnovers over the opening 20 minutes, finishing with a 21-4 edge in that category.
The Bearcats did not commit a turnover in the second half until 11:43 remained and finished with seven in the game.
Cincinnati went on a 13-4 run to increase its lead to 61-44 with 13:31 left. A 16-5 surge shortly thereafter effectively iced the game, opening up a 77-53 advantage with 5:57 remaining.
BYU shot 41.4% from the field and 29.2% from 3-point range. Cincinnati converted 50% of its shots, including 43.5% from 3-point range.
Celestine was 4-of-6 from 3-point range and James was 3-of-7 to lead a 10-of-23 performance from beyond the arc.
Miller contributed five of Cincinnati’s 24 assists in the game.
