The No. 25 ranked Cincinnati Bearcats welcomed the UCF Knights into Fifth Third Arena Thursday evening. This game is the battle for second place in the conference as the Bearcats are second and the Knights are third. If the Bearcats win they would have a two game lead on the Knights with five games left.
UCF started the game on an 11-3 run just for UC to make a 13-0 run to take the lead with a barrage of good plays by the Bearcats. UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins received a technical foul call with 5:39 left in the half that led to two made free throws by Jarron Cumberland. I few minutes later this happened (Thanks OhVarsity):
GET UP, TEDDY pic.twitter.com/3SkeiDigQn
— OhVarsity! (@OhVarsity) February 22, 2019
Tre Scott had a huge block followed by back to back buckets nothing bigger than the turn around jumper over Tacko Fall before the buzzer.
TREVON SCOTT OH BABY pic.twitter.com/PjqxCIMcOQ
— OhVarsity! (@OhVarsity) February 22, 2019
Cumberland led the way with nine points, but Cane Broome gave a great boost off the bench chipping in with five points in his 11 minutes of play. The Bearcats went into the half up 26-18. UCF shot 35% from the field even with the Tacko effect on full display.
UCF started the half on a 10-0 run to start the half (28-26) led by five points from Aubrey Dawkins. UCF scored 18 points the whole first half, but within six minutes they had scored 18 points and it deep into the second half the Bearcats found themselves down eight points, but a huge three pointer by Keith Williams cut the lead to three (46-43). It was followed by a nice play from Broome and Nysier Brooks caused Fall to flagrant foul him on an offensive rebound. Brooks split the free throws and tied the game at 46 with 5:23 left. At the end of the game a series of plays by Justin Jenifer sealed the game. Jenifer made a nice move and finished over Fall, followed by a nice pass to Scott who knocked down a three and then sealed it with a huge three off of a Cumberland assist.
JUSTIN JENIFER BLOWS THE ROOF OFF pic.twitter.com/kRcJtp3V8V
— OhVarsity! (@OhVarsity) February 22, 2019
The Bearcats made free throws down the stretch to salt the game away, but this game shows how gritty this team is even with Cumberland not having his best game they were able to make enough plays to get the win against a quality team.
Jenifer finished with 12 points and three assists. Williams finished with 12 points. Cumberland finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists. The Bearcats won the battle of the boards 28-24, but committed 17 turnovers.
Cincinnati is now 22-4 overall and 11-2 in the AAC and now have a two game lead on UCF. They will face UConn on Sunday on the road.
