Jizzle James scores 24 points, Cincinnati pulls away early in 2nd half to beat BYU 84-66

CINCINNATI (AP) — Jizzle James made six 3-pointers and scored 24 points, and Cincinnati pulled away early in the second half to beat BYU 84-66 on Saturday night.

Cincinnati trailed 42-39 at the break but opened the second half on a 22-2 run for a 61-44 lead and cruised from there. Simas Lukosius scored all five of his points during the surge, and Josh Reed capped it with a fast-break dunk.

Day Day Thomas added 15 points and Reed finished with 12 for Cincinnati (14-9, 4-8 Big 12), which shot 56% (19 of 34) from the field.

Richie Saunders scored 15 points and Egor Demin added 12 for BYU (15-8, 6-6).

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Kanon Catchings and Mihailo Boskovic helped pull the Cougars to 66-58 with about eight minutes left but they didn’t get closer.

BYU, which lost at home to No. 20 Arizona 85-74 on Tuesday, has lost consecutive games since having its four-game win streak snapped.

Cincinnati will look to make it three straight wins with a home game against Utah on Tuesday.

BYU plays at West Virginia on Tuesday.

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