The Cincinnati Bearcats took on the UCF Knights on Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats were coming off two overtime wins against Memphis and ECU and in first place in the American Athletic Conference. Trevon Scott was named the AAC Player of the Week and College Sports Madness National Player of the Week after his stellar performance last week. The Bearcats lead the series 12-2 and they beat UCF in Orlando 68-54 earlier in the season. UCF was coming off a loss to Wichita State.
The first half started out strong for the Bearcats, they led 10-2 to start the game. UCF didn’t stay down long though and came within two. Scott continued to play the way he had been over the last few games, scoring seven points early and getting five rebounds. Brannen subbed many bench players in and gave us many different line-ups. The Bearcats seemed to struggle when both Scott and Jarron Cumberland were off the floor, but when the starters were all back on the floor, they were looking good. Chris Vogt played few minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, but it wasn’t a huge loss because he was struggling a bit under the basket, missing or dropping feeds to him. Due to this, Diarra got some decent minutes and played well. The Bearcats had a good first half, but didn’t play as well as they could’ve. The one big positive is that they went 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Scott led the team in points and rebounds with 14 and nine and Jarron led the team in assists with four. The Bearcats never trailed in the first half and the final score was 37-32 UC.
The second half didn’t start out well for the Bearcats. They let UCF go on a 9-4 run to tie the game in the first five minutes and once that happened UCF took the lead for the first time in the game. The Knights kept the lead for a while, but it was still a close game early in the second half. As the half went on, the Knights continued to add on to their lead, getting all the way to a 9-point lead. The momentum shifted when Jarron drove to the basket, made it while being fouled, and made the foul shot. That got the crowd back into the game and the players too. Scott, Keith Williams and Jarron came alive and really started to play hard with under 5 minutes to go. The Bearcats cut the UCF lead to 1 and regained the lead with two Williams free throws with just over a minute to go. The Knights would tie it again, Scott give the Cats the lead, and the Knights tie it again with 12 seconds left. The Bearcats would have a chance to win it in regulation, but failed to, sending them to their 7thtotal, 4thin a row overtime.
Overtime went back and forth, both teams playing hard. UCF would make two free throws with 24 seconds left, putting them up 3. The Bearcats got the ball back, passed the ball around, and with 8 seconds left Jaevin made an almost impossible, clutch 3, forcing double OT. Double OT started out with a big three from Jarron. The second OT continued to go back and forth, like the first. Down 1, with 11 seconds, Jaevin fouled and UCF made both free throws, putting them up 3. Adams-Woods was fouled, made both free throws, and then the defense gets UCF called for 5 seconds. They failed to get any points on that possession, fouled UCF made one, they got the ball back with 1.2 seconds and Jarron threw the ball up from half court, and made it, but time had expired. UC loses at home to UCF 89-87. Scott led the team in points and rebounds with 22 and 21 and Jarron led the team in assists with eight.
Cincinnati is now 17-9 overall and 10-4 in the AAC, this loss stings, but they will face Wichita State on Sunday at home at 1 pm.
