Cincinnati 69, Middle Tennessee 51: Troy Caupain scored 11 points and the Bearcats overwhelmed the Blue Raiders with stifling first-half defense to win the Emerald Coast Classic semifinal in Niceville, Fla.

Jermaine Sanders added 10 points while Farad Cobb and Deshaun Morman had nine apiece for Cincinnati (5-0), which will face Ole Miss in Saturday’s championship game. The Bearcats, who also received a team-high nine rebounds and three blocks from Octavius Ellis, limited Middle Tennessee (3-2) to 34.7 percent shooting, including 5-of-26 in the first 20 minutes.

Darnell Harris finished with a career-high 15 points – all on 3-pointers – for the Blue Raiders, while Jacquez Rozier had 10. Joshua Phillips and Jaqwan Raymond added seven points apiece for Middle Tennessee, which plays Creighton in Saturday’s consolation game.

Cincinnati took a 39-17 advantage into the second half and increased the lead to as many as 25. The Blue Raiders managed to double their first-half point total during the final 20 minutes and got as close as 59-43 on a Harris trey with 4½ minutes remaining, but the Bearcats outscored them 10-8 thereafter.

Middle Tennessee missed its first 12 shots and didn’t score until Phillips hit a pair of free throws with 11:42 remaining in the half. Meanwhile, Cincinnati jumped out to a 12-0 lead and never allowed the Blue Raiders to get closer than seven while hitting 71.4 percent of its first-half shots.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Cincinnati, which beat Middle Tennessee 69-48 last season, is 4-0 in the all-time series. … The Bearcats enjoyed a 34-24 advantage on the glass to match their season average rebounding margin. … Harris entered Friday having scored a total of 19 points in four games and missed each of his eight 3-point attempts.