TCU would take a 43-38 lead following nine unanswered, as turnovers continued to pile up for the Bearcats. However, Lakhin would Skillings on the back door cut to silence the Horned Frogs run, in search of one of their own. The Bearcats were looking to claw back in this one following a five-point run, but the Horned Frogs weren’t shying away it appeared.
TCU would go on to bury seven of their last nine shots en route to a 53-45 lead, but the time was now for the Bearcats. Simas Lukosius would bury two crucial free throws cutting TCUs led to five, but the Horned Frogs would answer right back after a JaKobe Coles made jumper. The opportunity was there for the Bearcats to make it a three-point game as Viktor Lakhin forced a turnover, but Thomas missed a wide-open layup resulting in a huge four-point swing in favor of TCU.
Bandaogo would cut the deficit to four, after Skillings grabbed his own miss on the free throw attempt to keep the possession alive. Day-Day Thomas would come alive with consecutive steals but would only be able to finish on one of them as missed layups continued to hurt the Bearcats. A huge, missed opportunity down the stretch for the Bearcats, with a huge game changing opportunity on the line.
Lakhin, would cut the Horned Frogs led to two following a great post entry feed from Skillings to make this a 64-62 game. TCU would then go ice cold offensively after missing their last eight shots down the stretch, before grabbing three crucial offensive rebounds in one possession in the final minute. However, the Bearcats would stand tall and force yet another huge defensive stand when needed the most.
The Bearcats would take a huge 65-64 lead with forty-five seconds left after Skillings found Thomas in the corner for a huge three, to give the Bearcats their first lead late in the first half. Trevian Tennyson buried a huge three, to end the Horned Frogs five-minute scoring drought as they regained a 67-65 lead over the Bearcats with 18 seconds remaining. Thomas would carry the load, for the Bearcats after tying the game at 67 with 12 seconds left.
The Bearcats would get a great contest on the defensive end resulting in a TCU foul with 2.5 seconds left, with a chance to win the game, but free throws continue to haunt the Bearcats. However, they also haunted the Horned Frogs down the stretch after Erenest Udeh Jr missed the 1-1 opportunity with two seconds left forcing overtime.
Newman scored the first five points for the Bearcats in overtime after a baseline drive gave the Bearcats a 72-71 lead with three minutes remaining. Texas Christain University guard Trevian Tennyson buried a huge contested three to regain possession off the lead at 73-72 with 2:30 remaining. Then Lakhin comes down and buries a huge three for the Bearcats to silence the crowd, with just over 90 seconds remaining.
Then a slight skirmish broke out after a jump ball got a little physical as Newman would appear to get tangled up with Mikah Peavy which left Peavy bleeding heavily out of his left eye. After nearly 6 minutes of video replay and clean up, play was quickly resumed after Peavy buried two crucial free throws to tie teh game at 75.
Newman broke loose and got a huge steal, resulting in two massive free throws to avenge his miss during the Texas game in the final seconds. Skillings scored the go-ahead basket with 22 seconds left, where Thomas sealed the deal with five seconds left after knocking home two free throws to give the Bearcats an 81-77 victory over #19th ranked TCU.
Fans quickly stormed the court in what was the Bearcats biggest victory in recent years as they secured their first Big 12 victory here at Fifth Third Arena. An incredible atmosphere with an incredible finish after a wild sequence transpired earlier this evening.
Up Next
The Bearcats (13-4, 2-2 Big 12) will be back in action this Saturday at 1 pm when they welcome in #15 Oklahoma.
