The Cincinnati Bearcats welcomed the Temple Owls into Fifth Third Arena for Senior Night. This is the last game of the regular season for the Bearcats and they honored John Koz, Chris McNeal, Jaevin Cumberland, Tre Scott and Jarron Cumberland. Make sure you check out all of our senior appreciation posts. John Brannen went with an all senior starting lineup of Koz, McNeal, Jae. Cumberland, Scott and Jar. Cumberland.
Cincinnati got off to a slow start now scoring until the 16:55 mark when Jar. Cumberland knocked down two free throws. Temple went on to take a 15-5 lead before they started to claw back into it, getting the score down to 17-13. Temple pushed the lead to 14 by the half (31-17) behind the play of guard Alani Moore II who led the way with nine points. Cincinnati was led by Jar. Cumberland with 11 points, but the team just shot 24% from the field and 10% from three. Mamoudou Diarra played well off the bench with four points and three rebounds, but also racked up two fouls.
In the second Cincinnati started to chip into the lead finally hitting a couple of three’s, Jae. Cumberland and Mika Adams-Woods hit one a piece to get the game within 8 points. A tough charging call against Keith Williams negated an and 1 opportunity where the Temple player was moving and had both feet inside the circle. Temple pushing the lead back up to double digit, a run of back to back threes by Jae. Cumberland and Keith Williams put Cincinnati down 3 points, 52-49 with 5:28 left in the second half in front of a sold out crowd. Josh Pierre-Louis stopped the run with a mid range shot, but Mamoudou Diarra answered with a 3 of his own to get the score within 2. Diarra split a pair of free throws and Jar. Cumberland found Williams for the go ahead layup. De’Vondre Perry made a three to give Temple the lead again, but Jar. Cumberland answered with a three of his own and then Perry got a dunk to give Temple the lead 59-58 late in the game. Diarra with ice water in his veins knocked down two free throws with 1:37 left in the second half to give Cincinnati the lead. After Quinton Rose split two free throws, Jar. Cumberland slid down the lane and knocked down a nice shot off the back board to give Cincinnati a 62-60 lead. Jar. Cumberland missed a pull up three and J.P. Moorman II hit a three to give Temple a 1 point lead, Jar. Cumberland drove the left side of the court and shot a runner off the back board that Scott cleaned up with a put back lay up to put Cincinnati up 64-63 for good.
Scott finished with five points, 12 rebounds and three assists. Jae. Cumberland finishes with nine points. Jar. Cumberland finishes with 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Williams finishes with 11 points. Diarra finishes with 12 points and four rebounds.
Cincinnati scored 47 of its 64 points in the second half. They are now 20-10 overall and 13-5 in the AAC. They won’t play until Friday in the AAC Tournament.
