The big takeaway from the first half was the play of Lakhin, as we all knew coming into this one the Vikings would look to crash the glass and find ways to get Enaruna going inside. Lakhin, was a dominant factor as he had a team high eight points while 3-of-3 from the field. Lakhin, also contributed six huge rebounds and as we mentioned earlier the Bearcats knew that the Vikings would get downhill and attack, but Lakhin was the dominant force for the Bearcats in the first half and affected the game on both ends of the court and was making his presence known early. Bearcats head coach Wes Miller did say the other night that they thought Lakhin had been the best player in the front court heading into the season and he shined in the first half of this one here at Fifth Third Arena.
The Vikings would come out and take a 35-32 lead over the Bearcats as the Vikings were starting to find their groove forcing the Bearcats to call an early timeout after a wide-open dunk by Deante Johnson gave the Vikings all the momentum as they were looking to build off that momentum early in the second half. The Vikings were making it known they came to play after an ugly loss on Tuesday to Notre Dame College, as they continued to find ways to slow down the Bearcats offense and make it impossible for Nolley to get anything going offensively for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats were starting to create some turnovers as they looked to capitalize off the Vikings mistakes and really start to push the tempo after a DeJulius steal would result in a huge alley-op to Nolley that would get Fifth Third Arena on their feet as they Bearcats would tie this game at 41 with just under 13 minutes remaining in the second half. The Bearcats would look to create some momentum after a Hensley layup was followed up by a huge block on the other end by Nolley as the Bearcats held a 47-45 lead over the Vikings with 10 minutes remaining in the second half.
The Bearcats would jump out to a 51-45 lead following a DeJulius steal which led to an easy layup out in transition and the Bearcats were looking to open this thing up a little bit. The Bearcats would see a huge burst of momentum following a huge and-1 by Lakhin, as he continued to make his presence known inside for the Bearcats. DeJulius started getting to his spots though after knocking down a huge three to force a Vikings timeout as the Bearcats would take their biggest lead of the night as they led the Vikings 56-47 with just under seven minutes remaining.
The Bearcats would really lock in the last few minutes, and it started with the play of Hensley who provided great minutes on defense to slow down the Vikings offense as they attempted to make a late comeback where they trailed 60-49 with just under four minutes remaining. The Vikings weren’t shying away however, as they cut the Bearcats lead to seven where they trailed 62-55 following a huge dunk by Lakhin.
The Bearcats however, would hold on and defeat Cleveland State 69-58 following a career night from Lakhin who finished with a career-high 14 points, and 12 rebounds as he would lock down his second career double-double, his first one since December 5th, 2021 in the teams 73-58 over Bryant.
“Everyone told me congratulations on the first double-double, but people forget I had one vs Bryant last season. I just played my role, David found me a couple of times, grabbed some offensive rebounds, just outhustle and out worked people, and that’s how we get it,” said Lakhin following the Bearcats 69-58 victory over Cleveland State.
The Bearcats would also see huge nights from David DeJulius who finished with a game high 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while dishing out six assists. Landers Nolly also contributed 16 points and five rebounds as the Vikings did a great job at eliminating him in the first half as 12 of his 16 came late in the second half.
However, Cleveland State didn’t make it easy for the Bearcats tonight after a very slow start, the Bearcats knew they had a test at hand early as the Vikings did a great job eliminating Landers Nolley as he was held to just four points in the first half and part of that was due to the presence Tristan Enaruna brought defensively for the Vikings. However, the Bearcats knew they would have to see players step up with John Newman out with a knee injury and one of those players was forward Jarrett Hensley. Hensley had a great run defensively late in the second half and provided great minutes for the Bearcats late in the stretch and will be a huge impact if Newman is out long with his injury.
“John has a knee injury, he has been dealing with that for the moment. However, you take out on of the best defenders in our conference, as he is the heart and soul of our team defensively and some of those little dirty things, we value that John does, and you take that off the floor and we saw it a couple times last season when you take him off the floor, we are a completely different team. I thought there was times Jarrett stepped up, but we need him do that more consistently,” said Wes Miller.
The Bearcats will be back in action this Sunday when they welcome in Eastern Kentucky University to Fifth Third Arena as tipoff is slated for 12 pm in game one of a doubleheader as the Women’s team will follow up as they take on Radford.
