Tonight, Wes Miller and the Cincinnati Bearcats (5-0) traveled to Washington, DC to take on Howard University (3-4) for the first time since 2006. The Bearcats were coming off a dominating victory over Georgia Tech last week and now face their first road match up the season as they leave the Cincinnati area for the first and final time before conference play kicks off next month.
The Bearcats would defeat the Bison 86-81 and improve to 6-0 for the first time since the 2017-2018 season. The Bearcats were led by Viktor Lakhin who finished with a team high 19 points and six rebounds, while Dan Skillings contributed a smooth 16 points and six rebounds.
Seth Towns led the Bison with 24 points and eight rebounds as the eight year veteran willed the Bison tonight on both ends of the floor, including a huge three to send this game to overtime.
The Bearcats on the other hand shot nearly 46% from the field, but shot just 16% from behind the arc (3-18) and that was the difference maker here tonight. All three of those makes were from Simas Lukosius who appeared to leave this game in the overtime period due to some sort of lower leg injury or cramping it appeared.
How it Happened
Aziz Bandaogo would make his first start of the season in place of Ody Oguama. However, the Bison would come out and look to push the tempo early after taking an early 7-4 lead with 14:27 remaining in the first half. However, the Bearcats found themselves in an early slump as they started this one just 2-of-9 (18%) from the field while the Bisons were shooting nearly 60% from the field. This was the Bearcats first road match of the season, and this was something they were looking forward to especially heading into conference play next month, and a true road environment like Howard has shown that here in the early segments of the first half.
The Bearcats would tie this game up at 12 with 10 minutes left in the first half following consecutive made three’s by Simas Lukosius sparked a five-point run for the Bearcats. However, the Bearcats struggled to find an early rhythm offensively early due to the Bisons early 2-3 zone. The Bearcats on the other hand were making it hard for the Bisons to get anything going themselves as John Newman continued to do a great job eliminating Seth Towns as the 8th year guard was held to just two points in the first 12 minutes.
The Bearcats took a huge 21-16 lead, but Seth Towns started finding his groove for the Bison after consecutive made three’s made this a 23-22 game. The Bearcats simply had no answer for Seth Towns as Howard was quickly finding ways to get the ball in his hands and get him going as we were locked in for a back and forth battle here at Burr Gymnasium.
Dan Skillings would provide a huge spark off the bench after eight quick points gave the Bearcats a 27-25 lead with 3:47 remaining in the first half. The Bearcats would look to extend their lead near the end of the first half after Skillings sparked some momentum after a huge tomahawk slam extended the Bearcats lead to 31-27.
