No. 25 Cincinnati beats Fairleigh Dickinson 119-68 (Dec 17, 2016)

By AP
Published

CINCINNATI (AP) Senior Kevin Johnson scored a career-high 18 points as No. 25 Cincinnati rolled to the highest-scoring game of coach Mick Cronin's 11-year career, 119-68 over Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday

Jacob Evans added 17 points and five other Bearcats reached double figures as Cincinnati (9-2) bettered it previous season-high margin of victory for the second straight game, a 38-point romp over Texas Southern on Tuesday.

Stephan Jiggetts scored 24 points to lead the Knights (2-9), who have lost seven straight and eight of nine.

Johnson matched his career high by halftime, scoring 15 points as the Bearcats built a 41-point lead before settling for a 65-26 halftime advantage. Evans also scored 15 points in the first half.

That was the most points for Cincinnati in any half since scoring 68 in the first half against DePaul on Feb. 5, 1998.

Cincinnati took the lead for good after Mike Holloway was whistled for a flagrant foul with 17:02 left in the first half. Evans made two free throws and Troy Caupain scored to complete a four-point possession that snapped a 6-6 tie.

BIG PICTURE

Fairleigh Dickinson: The Knights committed 15 first-half turnovers, three shy of matching their season high, allowing Cincinnati to build a 22-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

Cincinnati: The Bearcats shot 67.6 percent from the field (23 of 34), including 6 of 11 from 3-point range while scoring 65 points in the first half, just four shy of tying the program record for first-half points, set against North Texas State in the 1957-58 during the Oscar Robertson era.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Cincinnati will likely move up after winning two games by big scores this week, especially after No. 21 Notre Dame lost 86-81 to 15th-ranked Purdue on Saturday.

UP NEXT

After three straight road games, Fairleigh Dickinson returns home to play a Northeast Conference game on Dec. 29 against Saint Francis (Pa.).

Cincinnati remains home to face Marshall on Thursday before traveling to Philadelphia on Dec. 28 for its American Athletic Conference opener against Temple.

---

More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25.