The Cincinnati Bearcats hosted the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes Saturday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats came out slow, as they did not score for almost four minutes, which allowed Tulsa to take an early lead that they maintained throughout the half. Cincinnati’s offensive struggles did not end there. The Bearcat offense shot 30% from the field in the first half, and their only saving grace was Jeremiah Davenport. Davenport scored 11 points in the first half and was the jolt the Bearcats needed to go into the half down by only 8. Despite the scoring struggles, Cincinnati only had five turnovers and moved the ball relatively well. Their defense was less than impressive, but was not a hinderance in their overall effort in the first half. Tulsa came out ready to play and hit down some early shots to take a lead, and Brandon Rachal’s 16 points boosted the Golden Hurricanes when they needed it. Tulsa did not have a flashy game; however, consistency was key as well as the ability to capitalize on opportunities.
The second half started out as a different story. The Bearcats came out controlling the tempo and the game early. They applied full court pressure and forced Tulsa turn the ball over and run-down time on the shot clock. Cincinnati began knocking down their shots while staying fired up on the defensive end. The new energy and ability to score boosted the Bearcats enough to tie the game early in the second. However as soon as the Bearcats had a lead in their sights, they slipped back into their old ways. Tulsa began to get out of Cincinnati’s reach again. The Bearcats defense began to fall short as well, and they gave up backdoor opportunities and points in the paint. Despite this they were able to come within reach as they were only down by five within the final four minutes of the game. Keith Williams brought it to three with a layup off a fast break despite being 3-of-13 from the field prior to that. Defense brought the energy for the final minutes with steals, blocks and stops that got converted into points bringing the Bearcats within one with just under two minutes to play. With less than thirty seconds left the Bearcats were down by two and forced to foul Tulsa. Rachal made both to put the Bearcats two scores out of reach from the lead.
Tulsa’s consistent play was too much for the Bearcats short spurts of scoring and hard defense to overcome. The Cincinnati Bearcats fell 70-66.
They are back in action again Thursday at SMU.
