TicketsCINCINNATI – The Cincinnati men's basketball team fell to Dayton, 82-68, on Saturday night at Heritage Bank Center in the Hoops Classic Presented by altafiber & CareSource.
Trailing 35-29 at halftime, the Bearcats started the second half just how it did the game – with an Aziz Bandaogo alley-oop slam dunk.
However, Dayton answered with seven straight points to take a 42-31 lead on Kobe Elvis' 3-pointer with 17:31 left in the game.
Cincinnati cut it to seven, 46-39, on a layup by guard Jizzle James, but Dayton used a 10-0 run to move in front 56-41 on Flyers' guard Koby Brea's fourth 3 of the night.
Bearcats wing Simas Lukosius hit a pair of three-pointers late in the second half to cut the Dayton lead to 10 – 71-61 – with five minutes remaining in the game.
Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II led all scorers with 28, including a dagger three-pointer that kept the Flyers in front by 12, 76-64, with under two minutes left. Elvis added 25 for the Flyers, who improved to 8-2 on the season.
Cincinnati (8-2) was led by Bandaogo, who recorded his second straight double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Lukosius scored 14 points and point guard Day Day Thomas tallied 10 – all coming after halftime.
The Bearcats led 5-0 to start the game on Bandaogo's dunk and a 3 from guard CJ Fredrick. UC extended its lead to 8-3 on another alley-oop from Bandaogo – this time while he converted the lay-in and was fouled for the three-point play. However, Brea swished two quick 3-pointers as part of a 10-2 Dayton run that gave the Flyers a 13-10 lead five-and-minutes into the contest.
Trailing 24-19, the Bearcats received a spark from forward Jamille Reynolds' first appearance of the season. The junior transfer from Temple entered the game at the 9:10 mark in the first half. He promptly threw down a rim-rattling putback dunk to bring UC within one point, 24-23, 7:28 before halftime. He became eligible on Friday following a preliminary injunction in federal court.
Lakhin's underhand scoop shot at 5:00 in the first half gave UC it's first lead, 25-24, since before the first media timeout.
Dayton responded with a 10-4 run to end the first half and take a six-point lead into the break.
FROM WES MILLER
"Congrats to Anthony Grant and his group tonight. They were great and got us out of sync. Give them credit, first and foremost. We were struggling to get stops, and when you can't do that or defend, it puts pressure on everything else in the game. Every time they're at the rim, we're fouling, so when you look down and they're 28-for-30 at the line. We're struggling with interior defense, which is frustrating given the length and athleticism we have. We're struggling there and at keeping the ball and our chest in front. They're setting their press because everything is off a dead-ball free-throw, so our point guards weren't able to enter offense and get us in sync."
NOTABLE
-33 of Day Day Thomas' 35 points the last three games have come in the second half.
-Bandaogo's second-straight double-double also includes him averaging 13.0 rpg over the past three games.
-Simas Lukosius' 14 points were a season-high.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati returns home to host Merrimack on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) and Stetson on Friday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).
Trailing 35-29 at halftime, the Bearcats started the second half just how it did the game – with an Aziz Bandaogo alley-oop slam dunk.
However, Dayton answered with seven straight points to take a 42-31 lead on Kobe Elvis' 3-pointer with 17:31 left in the game.
Cincinnati cut it to seven, 46-39, on a layup by guard Jizzle James, but Dayton used a 10-0 run to move in front 56-41 on Flyers' guard Koby Brea's fourth 3 of the night.
Bearcats wing Simas Lukosius hit a pair of three-pointers late in the second half to cut the Dayton lead to 10 – 71-61 – with five minutes remaining in the game.
Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II led all scorers with 28, including a dagger three-pointer that kept the Flyers in front by 12, 76-64, with under two minutes left. Elvis added 25 for the Flyers, who improved to 8-2 on the season.
Cincinnati (8-2) was led by Bandaogo, who recorded his second straight double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Lukosius scored 14 points and point guard Day Day Thomas tallied 10 – all coming after halftime.
The Bearcats led 5-0 to start the game on Bandaogo's dunk and a 3 from guard CJ Fredrick. UC extended its lead to 8-3 on another alley-oop from Bandaogo – this time while he converted the lay-in and was fouled for the three-point play. However, Brea swished two quick 3-pointers as part of a 10-2 Dayton run that gave the Flyers a 13-10 lead five-and-minutes into the contest.
Trailing 24-19, the Bearcats received a spark from forward Jamille Reynolds' first appearance of the season. The junior transfer from Temple entered the game at the 9:10 mark in the first half. He promptly threw down a rim-rattling putback dunk to bring UC within one point, 24-23, 7:28 before halftime. He became eligible on Friday following a preliminary injunction in federal court.
Lakhin's underhand scoop shot at 5:00 in the first half gave UC it's first lead, 25-24, since before the first media timeout.
Dayton responded with a 10-4 run to end the first half and take a six-point lead into the break.
FROM WES MILLER
"Congrats to Anthony Grant and his group tonight. They were great and got us out of sync. Give them credit, first and foremost. We were struggling to get stops, and when you can't do that or defend, it puts pressure on everything else in the game. Every time they're at the rim, we're fouling, so when you look down and they're 28-for-30 at the line. We're struggling with interior defense, which is frustrating given the length and athleticism we have. We're struggling there and at keeping the ball and our chest in front. They're setting their press because everything is off a dead-ball free-throw, so our point guards weren't able to enter offense and get us in sync."
NOTABLE
-33 of Day Day Thomas' 35 points the last three games have come in the second half.
-Bandaogo's second-straight double-double also includes him averaging 13.0 rpg over the past three games.
-Simas Lukosius' 14 points were a season-high.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati returns home to host Merrimack on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) and Stetson on Friday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).