The Cincinnati Bearcats won their second straight Big 12 game with 67-60 win over the Arizona State Sun Devils.
The Devils lost for the fifth straight time.
Both teams stated slowing, missing a combined 12 shots from the floor until Sun Devil freshman put the scoreboard to work with 16:50 left in the game.
It was 4-2 Arizona State at the under 16 media timeout.
The Bearcats went to work, putting on a 14-0 run capped by Winton Woods Grad and University of Kentucky transfer, CJ Fredericks 3-point basket at the 5:21 mark. Cincinnati (12-5, 2-4 Big 12) built a 36-22 halftime lead.
"We were playing really good defense," Cincinnati coach Wes Miller said. "They didn't get a lot of good looks at the basket."
Cincinnati started to force turnovers too. They held a 25-2 lead for the game off those turnovers.
Dillon Mitchell had three steals that led to baskets, helping him to a team-high 14 point scoring night.
"You can't be held to 22 points on the road," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. "We saw Mitchell on film and know he is athletic and does a great job of getting into the passing lanes. We couldn't avoid it."
Arizona State (10-7, 1-5 Big 12) turned on the offense in the second half.
Freshman Jayden Quaintance scored 14 points of his game-high 15 points. He pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked five shots.
Quaintance is only 17 years old and won't turn 18 until July 11.
"He is a nice kid," Miller said. "We recruited him. He's been on this campus a couple times. He is 6'9" and is a good player already. He is going to be a great player."
Hurley knows what he has.
"He has great instincts and does things you can't teach," Hurley said.
Led by the phenom, the Sun Devils were able to threaten Cincinnati's lead.
The Bearcats offense went dormant for over four minutes and a second chance effort by Quaintance cut the home team's lead to four at the 6:47 mark at 52-44.
Dan Skillings Jr. was able to get to the free throw line. He made six of eight and four down the stretch as the Bearcats built the lead back to nine.
Jizzle James, who was sick all week, sealed the game with a pair of free throws with 31 seconds left.
James scored 12 points. Skillings Jr. poured in 12 points and Simas Lukposius added 10 points.
"Jizzle has hardly slept for two days. He had an IV an hour before the game. He gutted it out," Miller said.
