BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Wes Enis scored 19 points Sunday to help top-seeded South Florida beat No. 2 seed Wichita State 70-55 to win the American Athletic Conference tournament and clinch a berth in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012.
South Florida (25-8) has won 11 in a row and secured its first AAC tournament crown. The Bulls have won back-to-back conference regular-season titles.
Izaiyah Nelson had 13 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks for USF, and Josh Omojafo scored 10.
CJ Brown threw an alley-oop to Nelson for a dunk that made it 10-8 a little more than six minutes into the game, and the Bulls led the rest of the way.
Wichita State (22-11) trimmed its deficit to a point twice in the second half before Isaiah Jones and Enis hit back-to-back 3s to spark a 14-4 spurt that gave South Florida a 59-45 lead with 6½ minutes to play.
Dillon Battie led the Shockers with 15 points, and Will Berg added 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Kenyon Giles, the team’s leading scorer this season (19.7 per game), finished with five points on 2-of-11 shooting and 1-of-7 from 3-point range.
Wichita State had its seven-game win streak, which dated to a 66-58 home loss to the Bulls on Feb. 11, snapped.
South Florida got the No. 11 seed and plays Thursday against sixth-seeded Louisville in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
