TicketsCINCINNATI – Senior wing Jeremiah Davenport banked in a 3-pointer with 5:35 left to break a 63-63 tie as the Cincinnati men's basketball team held off Virginia Tech for an 81-72 victory on Wednesday night during the first round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) at Fifth Third Arena.
Graduate guard David DeJulius scored 21 points and dished seven assists, while redshirt senior Landers Nolley tallied a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double against the team with whom he started his career.
The game featured 13 lead changes and 11 ties as Cincinnati improved to 22-12 on the season. The Bearcats have also now won seven-straight games against ACC teams, including 2-0 this year. It was the first meeting with the Hokies since 1991 after 30 matchups as Metro Conference rivals.
The Bearcats will head to Hofstra for its second-round matchup, tipping off at 2 p.m. Saturday on ESPN+.
Joining DeJulius and Nolley in double figures were Davenport (12 points, three second-half 3s), senior guard Mike Adams-Woods (10 points) and senior post Ody Oguama (10 points).
Cincinnati trailed by four at halftime, but quickly got back into the game by making 7 of 9 shots in the opening minutes.
Adams-Woods drilled a three-pointer at the 16-minute mark that brought UC within a point.
A pull-up trey by Nolley tied the game 44-44 and ignited the crowd.
A steal by DeJulius started a fastbreak that was finished with a layup by Adams-Woods that gave UC its first lead, 48-46, of the second half with 14 minutes left.
The two teams traded blows until Davenport's third trey broke the final tie with just over five minutes remaining in the game.
Less than two minutes later Nolley buried two free throws and Lakhin put back a Nolly miss to push UC's lead to 70-64.
Oguama and DeJulius combined for the Bearcats' first seven quick points to open the game, and redshirt sophomore Viktor Lakhin's three-point play gave Cincinnati a 10-5 lead less than four minutes into the contest.
The Hokies quickly fought back behind 10 first-half points from fifth-year forward Grant Basile during the back-and-fourth first 20 minutes.
Nolley's third bucket tied the game 29-29 two minutes before halftime, but his third foul with 25 seconds left gave Virginia Tech the opening to take a four-point halftime lead as Hunter Cattoor made a driving layup right before the buzzer.
FROM WES MILLER
"What a crowd. We are one of the unique places. it's the NIT, and this is a program that goes to a lot of NCAA Tournaments and people come out and not just come out, come out in droves for the NIT. Not many places do that for the NIT, even in the places that they [fans] come out, they don't always do that for the NIT. They came out in droves; they were loud and they lifted us tonight. I hate that we can't be back in here, but I want to thank everyone that came out and lifted our team tonight and supported us."
NOTABLES
- David DeJulius finished with 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds. It marks his 10th game with 20-plus points and his 21st game leading the team in assists this season. He has recorded five-plus assists in 22 games, including 18 of the last 19 contests.
- DeJulius has also recorded 16 assists to two turnovers over the last three games, and his 179 on the year puts him one away from cracking the school's top-five for a single season.
- With a trey tonight, Landers Nolley II ranks seventh in single-season program history with 90 threes. He is the latest Bearcat to eclipse the 90-plus mark since Sean Kilpatrick hit 93 in 2013-14.
- Nolley II finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season, 10th of his career. Cincinnati is 5-1 in games in which Nolley II records a double-double this season.
- The 12 rebounds are one shy of a career high. It also marks his 30th game in double-digits and sixth game with double-digit rebounds this season.
- Jeremiah Davenport scored 12 points, his 13th double-digit scoring game of the season. Eight of his 13 double-digit games have come off the bench.
- Mika Adams-Woods added 10 points, his 18th game with double-digit points this season.
- Ody Oguama finished with 10 points and six rebounds, his fourth game with 10-plus points and five-plus rebounds this season.
- Cincinnati out rebounded Virginia Tech 42-29, improving to 19-2 when recording more rebounds than its opponent.