Freshman guard Marcus Sasser poured in 21 points, including nine straight in a pivotal late-second half run, as No. 25 Houston dispatched Cincinnati 68-55 on Sunday afternoon in a key American Athletic Conference game in Houston.

The victory allowed the Cougars (22-7, 12-4 American) to keep pace with Tulsa atop the league standings with two games to play in the regular season.

Nate Hinton, a sophomore, added 16 points, and Caleb Mills, a freshman, hit for 15 as Houston got 52 of its points from those three underclassmen.

Tre Scott had 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Bearcats, recording his 10th double-double in 16 games this season. Jarron Cumberland added 11 points for Cincinnati (18-10, 11-5), which went the final 3:10 without a field goal.

The Bearcats pulled to within five points near the midway point of the second half before Houston forged a 14-2 run to put away the game. Sasser and Hinton combined to score 13 of those points.

Cincinnati led 30-25 with 5:08 left in the first half before the Cougars scored 13 of the ensuing 14 points, holding the Bearcats without a field goal throughout the rest of the half.

Houston led 38-31 at halftime despite being outshot 50 to 35.3 percent. The Cougars did their best work in the lane and on the glass, outrebounding Cincinnati 21-14 and getting 10 second-chance points.

Mills led all scorers with 12 points over the first 20 minutes while Scott paced the Bearcats with 11 points in the half.

The Cougars continued their run early in the second half, scoring seven of the first nine points to move to a 45-33 lead. The Bearcats missed seven straight shots in that stretch but stayed in the game because Houston also struggled.

Houston led 49-37 with 11:57 to play before the Bearcats reeled off seven straight points to pull within five at the 9:03 mark. Sasser then canned a jumper and hit a 3-pointer to build the Cougars' lead back to double digits.

Cincinnati coach John Brannen was on the bench even after the death of his father, 71-year-old John Brannen, on Saturday.

--Field Level Media