No. 9 Cincinnati 77, Central Florida 49: Sean Kilpatrick hit six 3-pointers en route to 23 points and the visiting Bearcats overwhelmed the Knights in the first half, improving to 17-1 in their past 18 games.

Justin Jackson added 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots for Cincinnati (24-3, 13-1 AAC), which used a 24-2 run to build a 40-18 halftime advantage. The Bearcats held the Knights (10-14, 2-11) to one field goal in the first 14:41 and forced 18 turnovers.

Isaiah Sykes scored 13 points with 10 rebounds to lead Central Florida, which has lost 10 of its past 11 games. The Knights shot a season-worst 29.6 percent from the field.

Cincinnati briefly trailed 4-2 after Sykes’ layup a little more than two minutes in before totally taking control. Jackson scored six points during the run, Kilpatrick and Troy Caupain added 3-pointers, and Jackson finished the surge with a jumper with 6:43 to play, making it 26-6.

Central Florida, which mustered only a pair of Justin McBride free throws until Sykes’ layup with 5:19 remaining in the half ended the field-goal drought, trailed by as many as 25 late in the first half. The Knights drew as close as 45-28 on Tristan Spurlock’s layup three minutes into the second half before Cincinnati scored nine of the next 11 points to extend the advantage to 54-30 with 11 minutes to play.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Kilpatrick moved past Steve Logan into second place on Cincinnati’s all-time scoring list and needs 10 points to join Oscar Robinson as the only 2,000-point scorers in school history. … The 18 points scored by the Knights in the opening half represent the lowest-scoring half for Central Florida this season. … The Bearcats have held 25 of 27 opponents under 70 points.