This afternoon the Bearcats (6-3) welcome in crosstown rival Xavier (6-3) to Fifth Third Arena for the highly anticipated Crosstown Shootout. The Bearcats have lost the last three shootouts, but this is the first one at Fifth Third Arena with a full capacity since 2018 where the Bearcats defeated the Musketeers 62-47.
The Musketeers are led by stellar guard play as Souley Boum who leads the team in scoring with 16.6 points per game, which is 6th in the Big East entering today’s contest. Colby Jones also enters this one averaging 15.5 points and 5.8 assists for the Musketeers and looks to continue a great start to his junior campaign after being named to the Preseason All-Big East Team. The Bearcats know they will have their hands full with the stellar guard play for the Musketeers along with big men Zach Freemantle and Jack Nunge.
The Bearcats will look to have big days from guards David DeJulius and Landers Nolley on both ends of the court. DeJulius enters today’s contests averaging 16.1 points, while Nolley averages 15.3 points and 4.3 rebounds. The Bearcats know they will have to attack and find their rhythm early as they look to get back in the win column as Xavier has won the last three Crosstown Shootouts.
The Musketeers would jump out to an early 13-1 lead following a 11-point run before David DeJulius got the Bearcats on the board. The Bearcats would get stops on defense and spark a five-point run to cut the deficit to 13-6 at the first media timeout. The Bearcats would hold the Musketeers scoreless for nearly 5 minutes, before a Nunge three gave the Musketeers an early 20-8 lead over the Bearcats.
The Bearcats would cut the deficit to 11, where they trailed 27-16 at the seven-minute mark after a Mika Adams-Woods made three, but the Musketeers would continue to build their lead after an early eleven-point run in the first couple minutes. The Bearcats would find themselves in early foul trouble as Skillings and Lakhin both picked up two quick fouls within the first 10 minutes of the first half.
The Musketeers would take a huge 41-24 lead heading into halftime after shooting nearly 50% from the field in the first half. Souley Boum was off to a tremendous start the Musketeers as he had a game high 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting and the Bearcats were having a hard time defending the graduate transfer. The Bearcats on the other hand shot just 26% from the field in the first half as they struggled to get anything going offensively as Landers Nolley was held scoreless through the first 20 minutes. The Musketeers bigs were dominating the paint as they had 18 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes compared to the Bearcats eight.
The Bearcats would start the second half on a 16-8 run to cut the deficit to single digits as they trailed 49-40 after forcing a Xavier timeout. Viktor Lakhin continued to be a huge spark for the Bearcats after a quick seven point start to the second half. Fifth Third was feeling the energy as they were on their feet after the Bearcats forced a timeout following a made basket and the crowd was looking to play a huge factor for the Bearcats comeback.
The Bearcats would look to close the gap as they cut the deficit to seven, before the Musketeers rallied back and took a 57-44 lead after a couple Bearcats turnovers sparked a huge six to zero run. The Bearcats would respond though as they locked in defensively after a huge block by Lakhin sparked a 7-0 run by the Bearcats to cut the Musketeers lead to six as the Bearcats trailed 63-57.
The Bearcats would cut the Musketeers lead to three, after a huge poster by Ody Oguama over Jack Nunge sparked the momentum as the Bearcats would look to complete the comeback in the final five minutes. The Musketeers would respond right back after an eight-point run to take a 74-63 lead with 3:42 remaining in the second half.
