The Bearcats improved to 10-2 on the season following their 83-75 victory over Stetson behind a career day from Dan Skillings who finished the game with a career high 29 points and 10 rebounds on 11-of-14 shooting.
The Bearcats would be without center Aziz Bandaogo again for the second consecutive game while he continues to nurse a back injury suffered vs Dayton. The Bearcats would also be without guard Simas Lukosius due to a shoulder injury. Lukosius just can’t seem to catch a break to start his Bearcat career after the injuries continue to plague as of late.
CJ Fredrick would make his return to the Bearcats starting lineup after a one game absence after missing the Merrimack game due to a hamstring injury.
Jamille Reynolds had his best game of the season finishing with 14 points on an efficient 5-of-7 shooting, while Viktor Lakhin finished with 12 points, nine rebounds. Day-Day Thomas finished with 17 points for the Bearcats on a game where they shot nearly 52% from the field. A game where CJ Fredrick was held to just two points offensively but found other ways to impact this one after recording a career high seven assists.
The Rundown
The Hatters started the game on a 5-0 run after Ody Oguama fouled Alec Oglesby on a three-point attempt before Viktor Lakhin silence the bleeding. The Hatters fired right back with a quick five points to take a 10-2 lead after an Oglesby missed three-point attempt leads to an easy offensive rebound which was kicked out to A Jalen Blackman for the wide open three, forcing a Cincinnati timeout.
The Bearcats would look to find some momentum as they started to attack the Hatters 2-3 zone after Day-Day Thomas drove baseline on consecutive possessions for easy layups. The Bearcats knew they had to find their rhythm early or this could get ugly really quickly. The Bearcats would fight back after Dan Skillings buried home his first three-point attempt of the night to give the Bearcats a 17-15 lead. The Bearcats continued to pile it on after Skillings and Reynolds combined for a 7-0 run to five the Bearcats a 22-15 lead with 10:28 remaining in the first half.
Jamille Reynolds was quickly becoming a problem for the Hatters as he was a perfect 3-3, with eight points in his first five minutes of play. A huge opportunity for Reynolds to get back to game action after being cleared by the NCAA just a week ago. The Hatters responded with a huge six-point swing to cut the Bearcats lead to 1, before CJ Fredrick silences the Hatters momentum.
The Bearcats would look to build some momentum after a quick seven-point run, five in which came from Skillings after slashing the Hatters defense and throwing down a two-handed poster on Alex Doyle to give the Bearcats a 32-24 lead. The Hatters responded though with a huge momentum changing eight point run to ties the game with just under two minutes remaining.
