The 15-8 (8-3) Cincinnati Bearcats took on the 17-6 (6-4) Memphis Tigers at home on Thursday night in Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats were coming off a tough overtime loss Sunday at UConn, but before that they beat #23 Wichita State at The Roundhouse. The Tigers were coming off a close loss at home to USF. UC leads the all-time series 46-34 and over the last four seasons they have only lost two games at home against conference opponents. This game held a lot of weight in the American Athletic Conference, with both teams having a shot to win it.
The game started of slow, with the first points being scored at around the 18-minute mark. Jarron Cumberland got two fouls with in the first 4 minutes, so Jaevin subbed in early for his cousin. Chris Vogt also had two fouls in the first half of the first and Mamoudou Diarra had to come in for him. The Bearcats were down two of their key players, which meant other players had to step up. Tre Scott, coming of his career game, lead the team in scoring for the majority of the first half. Scott also lead the team in rebounds, with six. Late in the first half, Cumberland and Vogt both came back in and it gave a bit of spark to the offense. The Bearcats went 3-of-10 from the free line in the first half, which really hurt them, they were lucky to only be down 2 going into half. Mika Adams-Woods lead the team in first half points with eight, hitting two big time 3’s. Jarron lead the team in assists with four, ending with a big time one to Scott for a big-time dunk right before half. The final first half score was 29-27, Memphis on top.
The Bearcats came out ready to fight in the second half. Adams-Woods and Scott continued to keep scoring for the Bearcats. Brannen gave the young guys lots of big minutes this game and it payed off. Adams-Woods, Jeremiah Davenport, and Zach Harvey all had big impacts on the game and played double digit minutes. Adams-Woods had a great game with a career high of 14 points and Davenport had a career high game with eight points. Jarron had another quiet game, but not completely silent, he led the team in assists with nine, but only had three points early in the second half, finishing with 15. Lucky for him, his cousin Jaevin stepped up and was 3-of-6 on 3’s and had 10 points. Vogt, who normally dominates in the paint, only had six points in the second half including overtime. This game came down to the wire again, tied with 10.5 seconds to go, and the Bearcats would go into their second overtime game in a row. In overtime the Bearcats kept the momentum going and went on a big run. They took the lead and never gave it up. Scott carried the team this game with a career high 19 rebounds and back to back 20+ points, tying his career high 25. The Bearcats moved to 9-3 in the American and 16-8 overall with a 92-86 win over Memphis.
