ORLANDO, Fla. _ Cincinnati basketball coach Mick Cronin likes to talk about how it doesn't take an offensive juggernaut to win basketball games.
Jarron Cumberland proved it Friday.
The Bearcats' sophomore guard didn't score a point in Cincinnati's 61-51 victory over SMU in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at Amway Center, but he did everything else while helping lead the No. 8-ranked Bearcats.
"Jarron Cumberland, he was the player of the game. He had eight deflections, he had eight assists, he had two unbelievable offensive (rebounds) ... (he) just gives us a toughness that we need. He's just a real, real competitor," Cronin said. "He's a guy that scored 2,000-something points in high school, but he's becoming a winner and he helped us ... if it wasn't for him, we don't win this game.
"So you can play great without scoring, contrary to 99 percent of what the popular belief is in little league basketball."
SMU forward Akoy Agau said Thursday it would be hard for Cincinnati (28-4) to win for a third time this season against SMU.
He was right. It wasn't exactly easy, but the tourney's top-seeded Bearcats made it a season sweep of the Mustangs despite an impressive effort from SMU.
The Mustangs had plenty of opportunities, but some self-inflicted miscues here and there came at key moments of the game when SMU could have taken over the momentum of the game. Cincinnati took advantage of those miscues.
SMU (18-16), in fact, seemed to have seized the tempo to start the second half and had Cincinnati back on its heels, bolting out to a 38-32 lead with an 11-4 run after the break. Then came a barrage of mistakes for the Mustangs, who were rolling along at 14-6 earlier this season before three key players were lost for the season to injuries.
After a shot-clock violation, a missed rebound by Ethan Chargois on a Cincinnati free-throw attempt and an offensive foul on Jimmy Whitt, the Bearcats had stormed back with 10 straight points of their own to take a 42-38 lead.
"I thought we played hard. They do what great teams do, grind it out, find a way to win," said SMU's Ben Emelogu, who struggled a bit Friday, hitting just 4 of 11 shot attempts for 11 points. "Mistakes happen in a game and it happened, but I think we played our hearts out. I think we played hard and I think we left it all out there."
SMU kept pace, but after three straight buckets from Jahmal McMurray, who led SMU with 17 points, the Mustangs were still within 46-45 with 6:43 left. Then the miscues hit again. Another shot-clock violation and then McMurray fouled Cincinnati's Cane Broome on a 3-point attempt. Broome made all three free throws and Cincinnati was up 54-47 with 4:16 left.
That's when Cumberland had his biggest play of the game with a blocked Agau shot. AAC player of the year Gary Clark then woke up a bit. The Cincinnati senior buried a huge 3-pointer on the Bearcats' ensuing possession and then ran down the floor to make a thunderous block on a shot attempt by Emelogu. The Mustangs scored four points the rest of the way and Cincy moved on to Saturday's semifinals, where it will face the winner of the Tulsa-Memphis game.
Clark had a tough first half with just five points on 2-of-5 shooting and a missed gimme under the basket just before halftime. Clark did manage seven first-half rebounds and eventually wound up with a game-high 11. He also ended up with 12 points for the game, while big man Kyle Washington led Cincy with 15 points and Broome had 13.
