Jalen Celestine scored 19 points and Baba Miller added 11 points, 14 rebounds and six assists as ninth-seeded Cincinnati beat hapless, 16th-seeded Utah 73-66 on Tuesday afternoon in a Big 12 Conference tournament first-round game in Kansas City, Mo.
The Bearcats advance to face eighth-seeded UCF in the second round on Wednesday afternoon. The teams finished tied for eighth place after the Big 12’s regular-season gauntlet, with the Knights earning a first-round bye by holding a tiebreaker over Cincinnati.
Cincinnati (18-14) is still fighting for a spot in the NCAA Tournament and took a step toward that goal, with Tuesday’s win its seventh in its last nine games. The Bearcats will have a chance to bolster their resume when playing UCF, with whom they split their season series.
Cincinnati weathered a ragged first 14½ minutes before using a 15-2 run to take a nine-point lead at halftime. The Bearcats quickly expanded their advantage to 48-33 when Baba Miller hit a jumper and then a layup, the latter with 12:58 to play.
Utah fought back, closing to within 63-58 on Brown’s jumper with 4:35 remaining but never got closer than four points the rest of the way.
Moustapha Thiam scored 14 points and 10 rebounds for Cincinnati.
The Utes’ Terrence Brown led all scorers with 22 points. Keanu Dawes added 15 points and 12 rebounds and Seydou Traore hit for 12 points as Utah (10-22) finished its season with six straight losses. The Utes’ 10 wins are their fewest in a campaign since their 6-25 mark in 2011-12.
The Bearcats stumbled early on in Tuesday’s game against conference doormat Utah, falling behind 15-6 after free throws by the Utes’ Don McHenry with 11:41 left in the first half. Cincinnati made just two of its first 10 shots over the game’s first 8 1/2 minutes.
Cincinnati culled its deficit to a point over the ensuing six minutes, with a 3-pointer by Shon Abaev making it 18-17 with 5:23 left in the half. After layup by Utah’s Kendyl Sanders pushed the margin back to three points, the Bearcats found their stride in a big way, closing the half with a 12-0 run capped by a jumper by Thiam with 23 seconds left to surge to the front and carry a 29-20 lead to the break.
Celestine’s eight points led all scorers before halftime while Brown tallied seven points to pace the Utes. Utah shot just 19.4% from the floor in the first half and went the final 3:30 without a point while missing its final five shots.
