The Bearcats would keep their foot on the gas as they opened the second half on a 7-2 run following five quick points from Mika Adams-Woods as they lead the Shockers 46-24. The Bearcats continued to see a huge night from Jermiah Davenport as he had a game high 16 points on 6-9 shooting. Davenport was looking to create that spark as the true sixth man in his first game off the bench and it may have benefited the Bearcats in many ways, and we have seen that here tonight.
The Shockers would look to flip the script however, after an eight-point swing of things made this a 51-38 game with 12:25 remaining in the second half after two quick threes from Melvion Flanagan. The Shockers would look to get the Bearcats in foul trouble as Viktor Lakhin would pick up his third foul with 12 minutes left and could play a huge factor down the final stretch of this one.
The Bearcats would see a great run on both ends of the court as they created stops on the defensive end that would result in made baskets on the other end after weathering the Shockers comeback efforts. The Bearcats would continue to be led by Jeremiah Davenport who had a game high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Davenport continued to knock down shots for the Bearcats and was dominating on the offensive end. The Bearcats would hold a 68-55 lead at the final media stop of the game as the Shockers would look to make a last second effort to come back trailing by thirteen.
The Shockers however would spark a late 10-0 run as they trailed 68-60 with one minute remaining in this one and just like that the Bearcats were facing some adversity down the final stretch. The Bearcats however would stop the madness and hold on to defeat the Shockers 70-61 as they improve to 11-5 on the season, while 2-1 in conference play.
The Bearcats dominated the glass from start to finish and a key part into tonight’s victory was Ody Oguama making his first start of the season in place of Jeremiah Davenport as the Bearcats looked to rock with a two big look in efforts to win the battle of the glass. Wes Miller has mentioned that they had to get better on the glass, and it showed tonight as they outrebounded the Shockers 43-32. Ody Oguama provided the energy early in the first half as he made a huge presence on the defensive end early inside as the Bearcats held the Shockers to just 22 first half points.
Jeremiah Davenport had arguably his best game of the season as he finished with a game high 22 points on (8-of-12 from the field) while shooting (6-of-9 from behind the arc). Could Davenport make a huge spark as that 6th man off the bench with John Newman and Rob Phinisse still out with injuries? I guess we will have to find out heading into a huge conference slate in the upcoming days.
Landers Nolley would record his first double-double of the season as he finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Nolley was held to just four points in the second half after having eight of the Bearcats first eleven points. A double-double is a great sight to see for Nolley however, as the team prepares for No. 2 ranked Houston this weekend who could enter this contest being the number one ranked team in the country.
The Bearcats will be back in action this Sunday at 3 pm as the Bearcats welcome in number two ranked Houston for a chance to get a huge quadrant one victory. A good chance the Cougars could be the number one team in the country come Sunday after Purdue fell to Rutgers earlier this week. Can the Bearcats keep the ball moving as they improve to (11-5, 2-1 AAC) as they bounce back after a tough loss to Temple earlier this week.
