Jizzle James matches career-best with 25 points, helps Cincinnati pull away late to beat Utah 85-75

CINCINNATI (AP) — Jizzle James matched a career-high with 25 points and Cincinnati pulled away over the last four minutes to beat Utah 85-75 on Tuesday night for its third straight win.

Day Day Thomas scored five points and Aziz Bandaogo added an alley-oop dunk during an 11-0 run that gave Cincinnati an 83-72 lead. James ended the scoring with two free throws to surpass his previous season-best 24 points from Saturday’s 84-66 win against BYU.

James was 10-of-15 shooting and made two 3-pointers to go with six assists against Utah. Josh Reed added 13 points and Simas Lukosius had 11 for Cincinnati (15-9, 5-8 Big 12). Bandaogo finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Gabe Madsen was 10-of-26 shooting overall, 8 of 22 from long range and finished with 28 points to lead Utah (13-11, 5-8). Lawson Lovering added 14 points.

Utah used a 9-2 surge to tie it 68-all with 7:27 remaining and knotted it again at 72-all before the Bearkats started their late run with 3:55 to play.

James scored 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting in the first half to help Cincinnati build a 42-36 lead. Lovering scored 12 points and Madsen had 10 for Utah.

Utah hosts No. 17 Kansas on Saturday.

Cincinnati is on the road against 10th-ranked Iowa State on Saturday.

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