Gary Clark sank a free throw with 4.3 seconds left Sunday as No. 8 Cincinnati edged No. 21 Houston 56-55 to claim the American Athletic Conference tournament championship at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

The top-seeded Bearcats (30-4) earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while the third-seeded Cougars (26-7) will snag an at-large berth.

Houston failed on two chances in the final 10 seconds to win the game. Rob Gray missed a contested 3-pointer and Clark grabbed the rebound, drawing a foul from Nura Zanna. After missing the first of two foul shots, Clark swished the second.

Following a Cincinnati timeout, Gray turned the ball over on a bad pass with 1.2 seconds left, enabling the Bearcats to defend their AAC tourney title.

Clark finished with game-high totals of 20 points and 12 rebounds for Cincinnati, which also got 12 points from Jacob Evans and 10 from Kyle Washington. It was Washington who tied the game at 55 on a 3-pointer with 58 seconds remaining.

Gray paced the Cougars with 17 points, but made just 6 of 22 shots from the floor. Corey Davis Jr. added 15 -- all on 3-pointers -- and Devin Davis netted 13 points, including consecutive buckets that lifted Houston to a 55-52 lead with 1:14 left.

Cincinnati opened with a bang, scoring 12 straight points after Devin Davis scored the first bucket for Houston. Clark started the run with consecutive 3-pointers and Kyle Washington ended it with a layup for a 10-point lead less than 4 ½ minutes into the game.

The Bearcats still led 20-11 when Houston made its first big spurt, ripping off a 16-2 burst and establishing a 27-22 advantage when Gray converted a layup with 7:05 remaining in the half.

Cincinnati battled back to tie the game at 31 on two free throws by Clark with 2:40 left, but the Cougars got back-to-back 3s by Gray and Corey Davis, enabling them to take a 37-35 edge into the locker room at halftime.

--Field Level Media