Late Wednesday evening, Wes Miller and Cincinnati Bearcats defeated San Fransico 73-72 behind Simas Luksosius’s game-winning three.
Lukosius led the Bearcats with 28 points on 9-15 shooting while shooting 80% from behind the arch (8-10). Lukosius was coming off a great Big 12 Championship as the junior guard continued to lead the Bearcats down the latter half of the season.
“How about this guy to my left, in Simas Lukosius. He shot the absolute heck out of the ball. I am incredible proud of him. To see what he has gone through this season, between nagging injuries to being hit by the car. To see him hit the game winner tonight was amazing to see.”
Dan Skillings finished with 16 points on (7-15 FG) while grabbing eight rebounds. The Sophomore guard has continued to be a bright spot for the Bearcats over the recent weeks stemming back to the beginning of conference play.
However, starting point guard Day-Day Thomas would go down with an injury late in the overtime period that knocked him out of the contest. “Day-Day is currently getting X-rays on his foot,” Wes Milelr told reporters after the game. “I knew instantly when he hobbled off the floor, it could be serious,”
How it Happened
The Dons jumped out to an early 10-8 lead over the Bearcats after Malik Thomas buried his first two three-point attempts on the night. The Dons were looking to exploit their three-point shooting abilities as they entered the night shooting 38 percent from behind the arch. The Dons would knock down three of their first five three-point attempts, while Cincinnati was 0-3 from deep to start.
Simas Lukosius would score five straight for the Bearcats to give Cincinnati a 14-13 lead over the Dons with 13:17 remaining. Meanwhile, Cincinnati guard Dan Skillings made it an emphasis to stay aggressive following last week’s showing at the Big 12 Championships. The Sophomore guard tied the game at 17 with 11:50 remaining in the first half after completing a quick and-1 opportunity.
Cincinnati would take a 23-21 lead following consecutive threes from Jizzle James and Lukosius. However, Lukosius would bury his third three of the half with 8:58 remaining to give Cincinnati a 28-24 lead. It was safe to say that Lukosius was solidifying his position as Cincinnati’s leading scoring option after a quick 11 points. However, both teams were hovering around 50% shooting from behind the arch through the first ten minutes of play.
The Dons tied the game at 28 following four consecutive points from San Fransisco forward Johnathon Mogbo. The Dons would make some adjustments that gave Cincinnati a handful, as they were 0 for their last 9 over five minutes. That ended after a Day-Day Thomas made a three-point jumper gave Cincinnati a 33-28 lead with 2:52 lead with 3 minutes to go in the first half.
Cincinnati would take a 38-35 lead at the half behind eleven first-half points from Lukosius. Cincinnati would also get ten first-half points from Skillings. However, the Dons would shoot 40% from behind the arch in the first half, which was simply the difference maker. Led by Malik Thomas who had a team-high 11 points as the junior guard was looking to open the floor up for Johnathan Mogbo inside.
Mogbo currently leads the Dons in scoring and rebounding, but tonight the junior forward was doing a little bit of everything as he finished with four points, five rebounds, and five assists in the first half. The biggest emphasis heading into this one was finding a way to contain the talented forward and make him beat you in other ways on the defensive side of the ball.
Cincinnati jumped out to a 43-39 lead in the opening minutes. However, the Dons would cut the deficit to two after Lukosius fouled Marcus Williams on the three-point field goal attempt. The Dons would take their first lead since the opening minutes following a Williams-contested three.
San Fransisco would be without Mogbo for the majority of the second half after picking up his fourth foul with 14:20 remaining. The Dons would decide to go big with 7’2 center Volodymyr Markovetskyy which would throw Cincinnati’s offense in a loop.
The Bearcats were without a field goal for nearly five minutes allowing the Dons to take a 48-47 lead before a Skillings layup silenced the bleeding. Despite shots not falling for Cincinnati, Lukosius continued to will the Bearcats after his fifth triple of the night gave Cincinnati a 50-48 lead.
Cincinnati was able to extend their lead to six as they turned it up a notch on the defensive end. San Fransisco would go on to miss their next eight shots over six minutes. Cincinnati would go on to take a 57-50 lead after twelve unanswered following the Lukosius three.
San Fransisco would cut the Bearcat’s lead to three before Lukosius buried yet another triple to extend Cincinnati’s lead to six. However, the Lithuanian would look to wreak havoc after burying his seventh triple of the night to extend the lead to 11.
However, the Dons were going down without a fight as they cut the lead to three following a three-point play from Thomas with 1:15 remaining. San Fransisco would tie the game at 67 following a Thomas made three following the Bandaogo missed 1-1 opportunity. Jizzle James had an opportunity with 1.5 seconds left but his three was off the mark, as we were now heading to overtime.
Thomas would come out and give the Dons a 70-67 lead after knocking down his fifth triple of the night. The Dons would go on to miss their next six over the next four minutes as Cincinnati had plenty of opportunities to stop the bleeding. However, unforced turnovers continued to plague the Bearcats down the final stretch.
That was until the final seconds after the Dons took a 72-70 with nine seconds left. Cincinnati called a timeout to set up one final play before the final buzzer with 4.5 seconds to go. That was where Wes Miller drew up a play that would free Lukosius off the screen to do something he has done all season long, and that was hit clutch shots. Lukosius would knock down a high-arching three to seal the game for the Bearcats.
From Wes Miller
“I am really happy for our team as we found a way to get the job done. I told them that the hardest one to get was the first one when you get through the first one that is when it gets to be a lot of fun. This group has been so resilient this year, shrugged it off, and found a way to win the game, and I am proud of that. I am really proud to be the coach of these guys,”
Up Next
The Bearcats will take on Bradley in the second round of the NIT Tournament. Tip-off is slated for 2pm at Fifth Third Arena.
