Galen Robinson Jr. hit a go-ahead layup with 1:27 to play, then stole a Wichita State inbounds pass with six seconds left, helping deliver 21st-ranked Houston a 77-74 victory over the 11th-ranked Shockers in the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinals Saturday at Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

The Cougars (26-6), who tied Wichita State for second place in the AAC, will take on regular-season champ Cincinnati in Sunday's tournament final.

The eighth-ranked Bearcats (29-4) beat Memphis 70-60 in Saturday's first semifinal.

The Shockers (25-7) will await word Sunday if they earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Wichita State has made the tournament each of the last six seasons.

After Landry Shamet drew Wichita State even at 54-all with 9:39 left, there were five lead changes before Robinson converted a Robert Gray Jr. assist into what turned out to be the game-winning points.

The basket was just Robinson's second of the game. He also had a game-high six assists.

Wichita State had two chances to regain the lead, but Austin Reaves missed a jumper and Robinson recorded his critical steal, setting up two game-clinching free throws by Gray.

Gray's two late free throws made him 13-for-15 from the line, accounting for a huge chunk of his game-high 33 points.

Corey Davis Jr. added 19 points for the Cougars, while Nura Zanna collected a team-high nine rebounds.

The win was Houston's fifth straight and gave it 26 wins for the season, the program's most since the 1984 national finalists won 32.

Houston had reached the tournament semifinals by beating Central Florida 84-56 on Friday night.

Shamet had a team-high 19 points for Wichita State, which lost for just the second time in its last 10 games. The Shockers had eliminated Temple 89-81 in one of Friday's quarterfinals.

Rashard Kelly grabbed a game-high 12 points to go with 10 points for the Shockers, while Shaquille Morris had 12 points and Reaves 10.

The teams had split their regular-season games, each winning at home.

Houston led by as many as nine points in the first half and by 37-31 at halftime.

--Field Level Media