The Cincinnati Bearcats were coming off a tough loss against the Memphis Tigers and were looking for revenge. The Bearcats welcomed the ECU Pirates into Fifth Third Arena to try and get back on track. The Bearcats came into this game not off to a great start in conference play. The Bearcats were rocking a 1-2 conference record after tough losses to Memphis and Tulane. The Bearcats could get some early momentum in the conference standings with a win in front of the home crowd. The Bearcats rocked with the same starting lineup of David DeJulius, Mika Adams-Woods, Jeremiah Davenport, John Newman III and Abdul Ado. The Bearcats need a win after a tough loss, would they be able to get it?
Bearcats were very physical to begin this game. The Bearcats attacked defensively and were very active with steals and forcing bad shots. This propelled the Bearcats to an early 12-4 lead at the first media timeout. The Bearcats had to switch up their rotation though as John Newman picked up a technical and two fouls early and then was followed with Ody Oguama picking up two quick fouls as well. The Bearcats were a menace on defense in the first ten minutes, holding ECU to 7 points on 2-of-11 shooting. This helped the Bearcats claim an early 19-7 lead. The Bearcats were once again cooking from 3 to begin the game seemingly picking up where they left off in Memphis. The Bearcats would keep the defensive pressure on in the first half as they poured on their lead. The Bearcats would extend their lead to 23 with 8 minutes to go in the half after a Mika Adams-Woods floater capped off a 9-0 scoring run for the Bearcats. The Bearcats would battle with ECU for the remainder of the half keeping the differential at around 20 for the remainder of the half. The Bearcats’ defensive presence was shown throughout the first half with ECU having trouble finding good shots or getting any momentum going. The Bearcats took a 49-29 lead into the half. The Bearcats followed their great shooting performance in Memphis and kept that momentum in this game. The Bearcats shot 6-of-11 from behind the arc in the half and held ECU to 35% shooting in the half. The Bearcats looked much better on offense and kept the same defensive attitude Wes Miller and company have wanted all year.
Mason Madsen and Jeremiah Davenport were the leading scorers for the Bearcats at the half as they both had nine points. ECU’s leading scorer was Vance Jackson who had 13 points. The Bearcats did a great job in locking down ECU’s leading scorer Tristen Newton who came into the game averaging 18.2 points a game. The Bearcats held Newton to four points on 1-of-5 shooting and really showed just how good of a team they could be. The only question is how would they respond in the second half and could they finish off an entire game of solid offense and defense.
Bearcats started the second half on a slower start. The Bearcats were held without a basket for the first 4 minutes which allowed ECU to pull within 13 out of the half. The Bearcats would get a quick 5 to get the lead back to 18, but the Pirates were getting some momentum from behind the arc. The Pirates were able to cut the lead to 11 after Vance Jackson hit a 3 for the Pirates. Jackson was on fire from behind the arc and got the Pirates much-needed momentum. ECU battled back to cut the lead to single digits with under 10 minutes to go, but it was Jeremiah Davenport who would keep Cincinnati fighting. Davenport would finish a huge and 1 and got Cincinnati back to a 12 point lead. ECU would continue to fight and made this a ball game late. ECU held Cincinnati on a 3-minute shooting drought which allowed the Pirates to cut the lead to 5 with 3:16 to go in the game. A great first half seemed to be overshadowed by a meltdown second half for the Bearcats. The Bearcats would get a couple of huge baskets from Hayden Koval and Davenport to increase the lead back to 11 with 1:30 to go in the game. The Bearcats would hang on after a couple of baskets from Davenport and Newman. It what was not the prettiest second half, but the Bearcats exceptional first half helped carried them to a 79-71 win over ECU.
Jeremiah Davenport led the way for the Bearcats with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting. The Bearcats improve to 12-5 on the year (2-2 in the AAC) and will look to get back-to-back wins when they travel to Wichita State to take on the Shockers on Sunday.
