Just when it looked like Tulsa was ready to knock off the #14 team in the nation, the Golden Hurricane showed its youth in a classic meltdown.

Despite leading by nine points with less than four minutes left while completely outplaying Cincinnati for most of the game, Tulsa’s offense became non-existent down the stretch, and #14 Cincinnati made enough plays for a 57-55 victory over Tulsa in front of a crowd of 5,002 at the Reynolds Center on Wednesday night.

Cincinnati (20-2, 9-0 AAC) completed its comeback when Troy Caupain drilled a 17-foot jumper with 4.4 seconds left to break a 55-55 deadlock. After a timeout, Sterling Taplin drove the length of the floor but was unable to get off a shot before the buzzer.

“We went toe-to-toe against a team ranked 14th in the country. We just didn’t finish,” said TU coach Frank Haith.

Tulsa (12-9, 6-3) looked frazzled down the stretch, running poor offensive sets where it relied on one-one-one dribbling and little passing. The result was very poor shot selection.

“They put a little pressure,” said Jaleel Wheeler, who led TU with 13 points. “They extended - jumping the passing lanes, and we should have just attacked.”

The ending spoiled a game where Tulsa outrebounded the Bearcats 38-28. T.K. Edogi led the way with 10 of his 13 boards in the first half, as well as scoring eight points. Mysteriously, Edogi was not playing down the stretch when the game was on the line.

Also playing well inside was Martins Igbanu, whose strong post moves resulted in 10 points. He added six rebounds.

TU still could have put the game away many times. The most painful display of bad fate occurred with 51 seconds remaining and Taplin facing a one-and-one at the free throw line with a 55-52 lead. Two free throws would have made it really tough on Cincy to come back.

But Taplin’s first shot spun in and out, and Cincy was still very much alive. On the ensuing possession, Caupain drove to the basket and a marginal foul was called with 38.8 seconds left. Caupain’s poor looking shot seemingly bounced on the rim five times, looking like it would go out, before falling in.

So instead of a five-point lead, the game was tied, and there was too much time for Tulsa to stall to get a last shot. TU responded by turning the ball over, setting up Caupain’s game winner. Caupain led all scorers with 15 points.

“A couple of bang-bang plays didn’t go our way at the end,” Haith said. “I thought our guys fought extremely hard.”

The Golden Hurricane led by as many as 11 points at 52-41 with under six minutes remaining. Their nine-point lead at 54-45 with under four minutes left started to wither away when Wheeler’s pass was stolen by Jacob Evans, who waltzed uncontested for a dunk to cut the lead to seven points with 3:28 left.

Another TU turnover on the next possession was followed by a wide-open three-pointer by Evans to cut the margin to 54-50. Another bad possession followed with a missed shot, and a layup by Kyle Washington cut the margin to 54-52. One of two free throws by Junior Etou extended the lead to 55-52 with 1:19 remaining.

But Tulsa, playing with only two holdovers from last year’s NCAA team that featured nine seniors, did have what it took to finish the game.

“We didn’t make plays we needed to make. I’m not going to put out any excuses about our youthfulness,” Haith said.

Wheeler tried to remain upbeat about the tough defeat.

“It was good to see where we are as a team,” Wheeler said. “I thought they played well and made a couple of key plays toward the end of the game. We’re just going to grow from it and learn from it.”