The Cincinnati Bearcats traveled on the road to Greenville, North Carolina to take on the ECU Pirates. The Bearcats were looking to finish off there season on a positive note after back to back losses to Memphis and Vanderbilt. Coming into this game rocking a 9-10 record overall and we’re 7-6 in conference play. The Bearcats would receive good news before the game though as freshman guard Mike Saunders, Jr. who left the game on Thursday with an injured foot/ankle had x-rays done and they came back negative and showed no damage. He did sit today though for precautionary reasons and wanting him to be ready for the tournament. Which mean’t the Bearcats ran a different lineup as they ran a lineup of Mika Adams-Woods, Jeremiah Davenport, Keith Williams, Tari Eason and Chris Vogt. Would the Bearcats finish the season at .500 before tourney play?
The Bearcats started this game off hot as a couple of three from Jeremiah Davenport and Mika Adams-Woods had the Bearcats up early 12-4. ECU then would battle back after a timeout to tie the game with 13 minutes in the half 15-15. The Bearcats would go back and forth with the ECU Pirates before a Mason Madsen 5-0 run and a Keith Williams free throw had the Bearcats up 25-19. The Bearcats would go cold for the next couple of minutes tho which allowed the Pirates to go on a 9-0 run and take a 28-25 lead with 6 minutes to go in the half. Then it was a big shots by Mason Madsen and Jeremiah Davenport to finally break the cold spout and give Cincinnati a 30-28 lead. The Pirates would shortly tie the game after and then a technical foul from Keith Williams after punching the ball gave ECU a 32-30 lead late in the half. The Bearcats would get an and 1 from Mamodou Diarra and a bucket by Mika Adams-Woods to get a 1 point lead in the final minutes of the half and it would be a back and forth half for the remainder of the half as the Bearcats had a 37-35 lead at the half. Adams-Woods and Davenport led the way for the Bearcats with 10 points each and Mason Madsen came off the bench and hit two from behind the arc as he had eight points in the first half. The Bearcats shot well and played some great defense in the first half would the Bearcats be able to hang on to there smal lead and be able to move to .500 on the year?
In the second half Bearcats played great giving themselves consistent distance after a three from Williams to put them up 55-50, they never looked back. Davenport had a nice break away dunk that sent #BearcatNation into a frenzy, but it wasn’t a crazy as the lob pass from Madsen to Eason for an and one dunk by the freshman. That play was a signature of how the half went for Cincinnati as they coasted the rest of the way through. Madsen had a career high 19 points, Davenport along with Madsen had 19 points as well. Williams had 16 points despite being saddled early with foul trouble. Adams-Woods had another solid game with 12 points, while logging 38 minutes. This game turned into a feel good game for the Bearcats as everybody contributed in a positive way. Eason had seven points, seven rebounds, three steals and a block, while playing solid defensive against Jayden Gardner.
With the 82-69 win Cincinnati finishes the season 10-10 overall and 8-6 in the AAC. They will play SMU at 3 pm on Friday in the AAC Tournament. It looks like Saunders, Jr. will be back for that game, which will allow the Bearcats another able body to see if they can make a run to win the tournament.
