Tonight, the Bearcats (8-4) welcomed in Detroit Mercy (5-7) to Fifth Third Arena for their final non-conference game of the season. The Bearcats are coming off a huge 78-60 victory over LaSalle over the weekend and will look to make it three in a row heading into American Athletic Conference Play next week.
Detroit Mercy is led by Antoine Davis, who is currently averaging 24.5 points per game, and holds the NCAA record for most consecutive games scored in double figures with 131. Davis, a known bucket getter will be a huge weapon for Detroit Mercy will be the key player to key an eye on heading into this matchup.
Both teams would come out to a slow start as they combined 3-of-15 to start the game as the Bearcats would lead 4-3 at the under 16 media timeouts. As we mentioned on the Bearcat Tip-Off Talk Podcast presented by Taxley, we mentioned how the Bearcats would have to win the battle on the glass. Lakhin, would record five rebounds in the first 4 minutes for the Bearcats and make his presence known early.
The Titans would come out on a huge 12-point run, as they would quickly take a 16-8 lead over the Bearcats after four straight triples would give the Titans all the momentum to start. The Bearcats would settle in as they cut the lead to 13, where they trailed Detroit Mercy 16-13 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the second half. The Bearcats would settle in and climb out of an early deficit and really start to settle in and find ways to attack the Titans 2-3 zone.
The Bearcats were really looking to pound the ball inside and it all started with Viktor Lakhin and Ody Oguama. The Bearcats knew they had to take advantage of the height advantage and they made sure to do that early. Lakhin got the party started inside, after grabbing eight rebounds in the first 6 minutes of action and continued to be a force on the offensive end as he entered tonight shooting nearly 72% from the field, which was fourth in the country. However, Oguama provided a huge spark on both ends of the court as he started 4-of-6 from the field with eight points. Oguama also played a huge role on the defensive end after snatching a huge block on the help side defense.
The Bearcats would finish the first half on a 9-0 run as they took a 37-28 lead heading to the break. After a slow start to start, the Bearcats would turn it on late in the half as they finished the first half shooting 45% from the field and dominated inside from start to finish. The Bearcats would be propelled by Viktor Lakhin who would record 10 points and eight rebounds in the first half and was a huge mismatch for the Titans. However, Wes Miller and the Bearcats got a huge start from Ody Oguama as he would record eight early points, as the Bearcats continued to establish the ball inside as they scored 28 of their 37 first half points in the paint.
