Takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats basketball vs. Dayton Friday night

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For the second year in a row, the Cincinnati Bearcats played in an arena in their own city where fans of the opposition outnumbered them. That is the simple truth.

The other truth is the 15,107 that took in the game at Heritage Bank Center sporting red and black left happy after the 19th-ranked Bearcats defeated No. 22 Dayton 66-59. That avenged last year’s 14-point loss to the Flyers and upped UC’s record in the series to 61-32.

The Bearcats had to withstand intense fullcourt pressure by the Flyers late who whittled the game down to single digits after UC had led by as many as 18. Malachi Smith’s 3-pointer after a long rebound pulled Dayton within four at 61-57, but the Bearcats were able to pull away on late free throws to up their record to 9-1. Dayton drops to 10-2.

UC went over six minutes late in the game without a field goal. They finished 16-for-21 on free throws.

Dan Skillings Jr. led UC with 17 points while Jizzle James had 14 and Simas Lukošius 13. Dayton did hold Lukošius to 4-of-17 shooting, 3-of-12 from the perimeter. UC outrebounded Dayton 38-32.

Leading the Flyers was Nate Santos and Malachi Smith with 13 points each. It was Dayton’s lowest-scoring output of the season, the previous being Tuesday night when they got by UNLV 66-65 at UD Arena.

The last time UC was ranked and playing a ranked opponent was when they defeated No. 11 Houston in the 2019 American Athletic Conference championship game in Memphis. Friday was the fifth matchup where the Bearcats and Flyers were both ranked with the other games coming in 1955, 1958, 2000 and 2003.

Takeaways from Cincinnati Bearcats basketball vs. Dayton Flyers

Cincinnati Bearcats guard Jizzle James (2) hits a three-point basket as UC played Dayton in front of 15,107 fans at Heritage Bank Center in downtown Cincinnati.

Cincinnati Bearcats get quick start

Thanks to Dan Skillings Jr. scoring six of UC’s first eight points and the Flyers unable to buy a bucket for over five minutes, the Bearcats had advantages of 8-2 and 16-4…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/takeaways-cincinnati-bearcats-basketball-vs-034806518.html

Author : Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer

Publish date : 2024-12-21 03:48:00

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