Per GoBearcats:
David DeJulius scored 18 points, while Hayden Koval added a season-high 13 off the bench as Cincinnati erased a 10-point first-half deficit to defeat Wichita State, 61-57 on Sunday afternoon.
“Needless to say, that was fun,” head coach Wes Miller said. “I’m real proud of our guys. I told them at halftime that these are my favorite types of games, because they’re not gonna be easy.It’s not gonna be a rhythm game and nobody is gonna have great numbers. We’re gonna have to grind it out, stick together and withstand runs and hostile crowds. It’s the best feeling as a coach when you can make a step like that.”
Cincinnati (13-5, 3-2 AAC) had an opportunity to take it back in the second half as John Newman III nailed a stare-down three, but the Shockers made their next three shot attempts to get back ahead 37-31 and force a timeout at 16:55.
Immediately after a Shocker timeout, the Bearcats forced a shot clock violation at 9:42. Mika Adams-Woods gave UC a new game with a long corner two that beat the clock at 8:33. After some back-and-forth, Jeremiah Davenport’s contested free-throw jumper gave the Bearcats their fourth-straight make and a 53-51 lead at 6:34.
The lead seesawed as Koval connected from deep and the Shockers and DeJulius traded falling layups. Adams-Woods was fouled in transition and swished a pair for a 60-57 lead at 1:45.
The Bearcats were stifled into a shot-clock violation with 23.6 seconds left, but Wichita State missed a contested three from the key. David DeJulius closed it out with a free-throw on the front-end of the one-and-one.
DeJulius ended an early 7-0 Wichita State run with a triple at 11:48, pulling UC within 14-10. The Shockers later led by 10 at 8:50, but the Bearcats buckled down over the final two minutes with treys by DeJulius and Koval to end on a 6-0 run, trailing 31-28 at the break.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati returns to Fifth Third Arena on Thursday to host Tulsa. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
NOTABLE
-UC is now 26-13 against Wichita State all-time, including 8-2 in its AAC history. The Bearcats are 4-1 in Charles Koch Arena, with the last six games decided by an average of 3.0 ppg.
-Cincinnati shot 46.2 percent in the second half, finishing at 38.6. It also won the Miami (Ohio) game shooting 36.4 percent.
-The Bearcats went 10-for-26 from deep, its third game of the last four with 10-plus. It had two-such games all year prior.
-John Newman III (10 points) reached double-figures for the fourth-straight game and fifth time this year.
-David DeJulius’ 18 points gave him 11 games in double-digits.-Wes Miller earned his 198th win as a head coach.
