The No. 19 Cincinnati Bearcats faced the No. 22 Dayton Flyers at Heritage Bank Arena in downtown Cincinnati for a neutral site game for the second straight season. Last season, Dayton beat Cincinnati 82-68 in the same arena, will Cincinnati get their lick back?
It was clear from the start that the Bearcats’ speed and length were a problem for the Flyers, as Dillon Mitchell and Dan Skillings were monsters on the glass in the opening period, which allowed Skillings to score an early six points. Some timely 3s from Jizzle James, Simas Lukosius and Tyler Betsey helped the Bearcats take a 21-10 lead. The defense the Bearcats played against the Flyers was the real factor in why the Cats took the lead early on. A flagrant foul on Aziz Bandaogo with 3:34 on Zed Key gave the Flyers life, Key made both free throws, then Javon Bennett knocked down a floater to cut the lead to 21-14. While Bandaogo was down with two fouls, Arrinten Page saw long minutes, but also picked up his second foul with 1:36 left in the half. Cincinnati took a 25-17 lead into the half holding Dayton 0 of 7 from 3 and 27.8% from the field, with 11 turnovers and you figure the first half. Cincinnati didn’t shoot much better, going 3 of 17 from 3 and shooting 33.3 percent from the field. Cincinnati rebounded Dayton 22-13, which was huge.
Dan Skillings led the team with six goals, followed by Jizzle James and Simas Lukosius with five. Dillon Mitchell had a game-high six rebounds at halftime.
In the second half, both teams started shooting better from the field, which led to a more up-tempo game. Skillings had a few segments in the second half that had the crowd going with rough weather conditions for an and-one attempt, getting some offensive rebounds and great defense. Both Lukosius and James shot the ball better in the second half. Cincinnati had a scary moment at 17:26 when Bandaogo landed on his face after altering a Dayton shot. Cincinnati took the lead to 18, but Dayton continued to push back, via missed alley oops by Cincinnati, after a bad turnover by Dan Skillings, Malachi Smith knocked down a 3 that cut the lead to 4 points. Bandaogo made two big free throws to cut the lead to 6 with less than a minute to play, the next play Nate Santos made a 3. Thomas then made 3 of 4 free throws and the Bearcats won 66- 59. .
Cincinnati knocked off the tough Flyers at Heritage Bank Arena to complete their non-conference revenge tour. Now, 9-1, they will face Grambling on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Skillings had 17 points and six rebounds, Lukosius had 13 points and six rebounds, James had 14 points and three assists. Cincinnati won the glass 38-32 and the turnover battle 11-17.
This was a very good non-conference win for the Bearcats!
