Fabian White's career-high 28 points leads Houston to AAC-clinching win over Cincinnati

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POSTED: March 2, 2022 -- 8:18 a.m. CT

Houston, TX -- (Fertitta Center

Tuesday night, the Houston Cougars men's basketball team (25-4, 14-2) captured its third American Athletic Conference regular season championship in four years with a 71-53 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats. Fabian White Jr led the way with a career-high 28 points.

"We have been lucky to win a lot of championships over the years," Kelvin Sampson, Houston Head Coach said after the game. "But, some championships do mean a little bit more than others. I think because of the mountain these kids had to climb this year.

"People talk about missing Tramon (Tramon Mark) and Marcus (Marcus Sasser); but, we are also missing Quentin Grimes, DeJon Jarreau, Justin Gorham, Brison Gresham. The six guys that played in the Final Four run, not one of them played in conference this year. This 14-2 (conference) record is all these kids."

White kept Houston's sputtering offense afloat in the first half with 20 points. Houston went nearly 8 minutes in the first half without scoring a field goal. White ended the field goal drought with a putback layup which gave Houston a 25-24 lead with 3:52 left in the opening half.

"Tonight, we were stuck in the mud for a while," Coach Sampson said. "You could tell we had heavy legs and Cincinnati had a lot of energy."

Cincinnati's Ody Oguama scored a layup 15 seconds later to put the Bearcats (17-13, 7-10) on top.

The score was tied at 28 and at 30 when Houston's Taze Moore sank a 3-point shot with 1:05 left in the half.

After John Newman III scored a second-chance layup for Cincinnati, White rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Moore and knocked down a jump shot for a 35-32 Houston lead.

David DeJulius scored a layup with 6 seconds left in the half; but, Moore capped the first half scoring with a 3-point basket to beat the buzzer and give Houston a 38-34 lead at halftime.

Moore scored 10 points in the half. Moore and White combined to make 12 of Houston's 13 field goals in the first half.

Cincinnati shot 52.0 fg% (13 for 25) in the first half including 45.5 3pt% (5 for 11).

"There was some stuff going on at halftime that I thought woke them up a little bit," Coach Sampson remarked. "And, we came out in the second half with more energy."

"He (Coach Sampson) got to our head at halftime; and, we ended up playing harder," White acknowledged after the game. "Some guys started locking up better than they were in the first half."

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The two teams exchanged three-point baskets to begin the second half scoring. White made a jump hook to push Houston's lead to 7 (45-38) with 16 plus minutes remaining. Houston center Josh Carlton scored 7 straight points to push Houston's lead to 52-40 with 11:52 remaining in the ball game.

White sank a corner three-pointer to stretch Houston's lead to 12 (55-43). Carlton sank 2 more free throws; then, Kyler Edwards banked in a layup from a great pass from Taze Moore. Edwards was fouled and converted the three-point play to put Houston up 60-43 with 9:01 on the game clock.

Houston did not make a basket the next 7 minutes; but, the Bearcats only trimmed 5 points off Houston's lead. Houston point guard Jamal Shead scored a layup to end the Coogs' field goal drought and boost Houston's lead to 14 (65-51) with 2:04 to go in the game.

Houston made 10 of 26 field goals (38.5%) in the second half; however, Cincinnati made only 7 of 25 shots (28.0%) and just 2 of 8 foul shots (25.0%) in the second 20 minutes.

Cincinnati's 19 second-half points were a season low for the Bearcats in a half.

Houston wraps up the home portion of its schedule this Thursday, March 3, versus the Temple Owls. Thursday's game will be Houston's third game in 5 days. Tip is set for 6 p.m. Central Time on ESPN2.

Seniors forward Fabian White Jr., guard Kyler Edwards, guard Taze Moore and center Josh Carlton will be honored in pregame ceremonies. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 5:20 p.m., with the Senior Ceremony scheduled to begin around 5:30 p.m., Thursday.

"It hasn't hit me yet, but probably the night of it, will probably hit me more," White said about Senior Night. "Playing my last home game here is the end of a long era for me. It's going to be emotional after the game. Hopefully, it's off of a win, not a loss. It's going to be very emotional for me, an emotional night."

CLICK HERE for The HRR's write-ups of Coogs' men's hoops games.