This evening, Wes Miller and Cincinnati Bearcats (7-0) traveled right down the road to Norwood as they took on Xavier (4-5) in the 91st annual Crosstown Shootout. The Bearcats would get great news as guard Simas Lukosius would make his return for the Bearcats after missing the Florida Gulf Coast game due to precautionary reasons after being struck by a car on campus last week.
The Bearcats would fall to the Musketeers 84-79 as they would still search for their first victory at Cintas Center in over 22 years as the suffer their first loss of the 2023-2024 season. Xavier senior point guard Quincy Olivari would change this game after a dominant second half performance as he led all scorers with 27 points, 20 of those came in the second half. The sharpshooter changed everything in the second half as he finished with season high six made three pointers, after a perfect (5-5) in the second half.
The Bearcats would fall 84-79 behind a dominant night for Quincy Olivari as he led all scorers with 27 points after knocking down a career high six three pointers on the night, five in which came in the second half. Davion McKnight had his best game of the season for the Musketeers after finishing with a season high 20 points and eight rebounds, in 39 minutes of action.
Now for the Bearcats freshman point guard Jizzle James led the Bearcats with 19 points on (7-13 FG), and was a staple for the Bearcats in his first Crosstown Shootout. The freshman lived up to all the hype here tonight and Bearcats fans are just getting a quick glimpse of the freshman point guard.
Viktor Lakhin finished with 17 points, (15 second half), and eight rebounds, while John Newman had 18 points and eight rebounds on (7-10 FG). However, the Bearcats saww a rough night for Simas Lukosius who shot just 1-9 from the field in his first game back since that scary incident on campus last week.
“It’s a rivalry game, it’s local, yeah I was 0-2 coming into tonight. Hell yeah you want to win, that’s not rocket science,” Wes Miller said.” “Now does that mean you turn it into something it’s not, no. We want to win the game and we will win one, it’ll happen. Our fan bases are passionate and want it so badly and I love that about our fans. I hope they’re pissed we lost five straight, shoot I’m pissed with them.”
The Rundown
Tensions would fly early as Aziz Bandaogo and Abou Ousmane would have to be separated following a jump ball. Bandaogo was not letting go of that rebound without a fight. The seven-footer was gathering a true feeling of what this rivalry is all about. However, Xavier would take a 9-6 lead with 15:45 in the first half after a strong shooting performance as they shot 44% from the field in the opening segment. Now for the Bearcats, their size advantage was playing to their favor early as they have outrebounded the Musketeers 6-4 in the first four minutes of play.
The Musketeers would take an early 16-8 lead following a successful layup from Dayvion McKnight, as the Musketeers were getting the rim with ease early. The Bearcats on the other hand were struggling to find their grove early on offense after shooting just 29% from the field in the first eight minutes of action. The Bearcats were having much success in the paint as eight of their first ten points came at the rim and the Bearcats were utilizing their size early after struggling from deep after missing their first six three point attempts to start.
Musketeers guard Desmond Claude would pick up his second foul with 12:05 remaining in the first half as Sean Miller was forced to his bench much earlier than he had hoped. Jizzle James would provide a huge spark for the Bearcats after seven quick points in his first four minutes of play. Despite James strong effort to cut the Musketeers early lead to just one, the Musketeers quickly regained their momentum and took a 23-17 lead with 7:45 remaining in the first half.
The Bearcats were looking to find some momentum down the final stretch following a quick seven point run from the Musketeers. Bearcats seven-footer Aziz Bandaogo would create a turnover leading to an easy layup from John Newman out in transition as they looked to spark momentum. The Bearcats would lock in defensively as the Musketeers hot shooting start cooled off, where they went 0 for 6 at one point late in the first half. That would allow the Bearcats to climb back into this one and cut the Musketeers lead to three, as they trailed 27-24 following another huge basket from Jizzle James.
The Musketeers would come out of the break with a quick six point burst after Desmond Claude found the glass to make this a 33-24 game in favor of the Musketeers. The Musketeers would look to build off that momentum in the final minutes of the first half after Lakhin picked up his third foul after going for a steal in the Musketeer backcourt with 2:29 remaining in the first half.
The Musketeers would take a commanding 35-27 lead at the half following a huge final two minutes after the Bearcats offensive slump continued, as they shot just 1 for their last 10 to end the first half. Jizzle James continued to be the driving factor for the Bearcats early as he finished the first half with a game high 14 points.
However, the Bearcats would struggle to find ways to get Aziz Bandaogo and Viktor Lakhin going offensively as they combined for just four points in the first half. Something not many were expecting after a clear size advantage in favor of the Bearcats, but Sean Miller and the Musketeers did a great job at keeping them away from the basket, despite winning the battle of the glass 25-24. The Bearcats would have to find a way to get the big men going if they wanted to stay in this one and will be a huge impact in the second half.
Simas Lukosius would struggle in his first minutes of action following the scary incident on campus last week. Lukosius would shoot just 1-9 from the field in the first half and you could easily see he was still finding his groove after missing some time following that incident. However, the Bearcats needed to create some momentum in the post here in the second half as they looked to battle back in this one. We saw the Bearcats overcome a double-digit Musketeer lead last year, will they repeat that here a year later once again?
The Bearcats would come out and force an early Musketeer timeout following a quick 9-3 run, as they cut the Musketeers lead to two trailing 38-36. CJ Fredrick would flash his quick hands and force the Musketeer turnover and the Bearcats would look to get out and push the tempo, resulting in two easy baskets at the rim for John Newman. You could quickly feel the energy shift at Cintas Center to start the second half to say the least.
The Bearcats would keep their foot on the gas after Aziz Bandaogo fought hard in the paint through contact to force the Musketeer foul where the seven-footer went one-of-two from the line to give the Bearcats a 41-40 lead, their first lead of the game. The Bearcats continued to apply pressure on the defense end forcing stops, allowing them to get out and find rhythm offensively as ten of their first fourteen points of the second half came in the paint.
The Musketeers would rally back and regain their lead after Dayvion McKnight slashed through the Bearcats defense and finishes the tough layup through contact sparking huge momentum in favor of Xavier. Musketeers guard Quincy Olivari would catch fire from deep as the senior would bury home two quick threes in a matter of seconds to give the Musketeers 55-48 lead to spark a 10-point Xavier run.
The Musketeers had all the momentum in their favor after consecutive turnovers by Bearcats point guard Day-Day Thomas. John Newman would silence the Musketeer run with a huge made three pointers to cut the Musketeers lead back to single digit digits with just under 11 minutes remaining here at Cintas. The Bearcats just had no answer for the senior sharpshooter as he completely took over in the second half. The Musketeers would extend their lead 63-54 following a huge four-point play from Olivari, as the senior has change everything as he was now up to a game high 23 points.
The Bearcats would lock in on defense behind two great blocks from Bandaogo, allowing the Bearcats to push the tempo and get downhill. The Bearcats would string a huge eight-point swing to cut the Musketeers lead to 68-64 with 4:45 remaining.
The Musketeers would not look back from there as they held on to defeat the Bearcats for the fifth straight season 84-79 as they hand the Bearcats their first loss of the 2023-2024 season.
Up Next
The Bearcats (7-1) return to action this Tuesday at 7 pm when they welcome in Bryant to Fifth Third Arena.
