Bearcats Fall to No. 15 Oklahoma

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati men's basketball team fell to No. 15 Oklahoma on Saturday at Fifth Third Arena, 69-65.

The game was tied 31-31 at halftime, but Oklahoma took control of the second half thanks to Javian McCollum (16 points) and Otega Oweh (14 points).

Simas Lukosius (17 points) and John Newman III (14) led the Bearcats in scoring, while forward Viktor Lakhin tallied a season-best five blocks to go along with seven boards and five points.

The Bearcats dropped to 13-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12, while the Sooners improved 15-3 and 3-2 in the league.

Oklahoma led by as many as 9 points in the second half, but Cincinnati never went away.

A tip slam by Oklahoma's Oweh put the Sooner up 65-58 with two minutes left in the game, but Newman and forward Josh Reed made four straight free throws to cut UC's deficit to 3, 65-62, with 28 seconds left.

The Bearcats trailed by 2, 65-63, after Lukosius split a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left.

After Oklahoma's Rivaldo Soares made two free throws to give the Sooner a four-point lead with six seconds left, the Bearcats converted a perfect inbounds play when Reed tossed an alley-oop to Aziz Bandaogo to make the score 67-65 with three seconds left.

The Sooners held a 41-34 advantage on the glass 89% (16-of-18) from the free throw line.

Bandaogo and Lakhin combined for three blocks in the first three minutes of the game as Cincinnati jumped out to a 4-0 lead. The pair constantly altered the Sooners' shots in the opening minutes as the visitors missed their first five attempts.

A put-back dunk by center Jamile Reynolds kept Cincinnati in front 11-6, but an 8-0 run from the Sooners gave Oklahoma a 14-11 lead during a back-and-forth first half.

HEAD COACH WES MILLER
"They kicked our butts on the boards. That's two games in a row that's happened, and I'm frustrated by that. I didn't think we played our best basketball. I'm disappointed, and if we had found a way to win, I would have been happy and proud and would have sat up here and told you, but I'm not. For some reason, we've had better attitude, approach and effort all year than we had today. I'm not sure why, but we're back to it. We don't have time to dwell, because in this league you have to respond and get back to work. We have a big game in 48 hours."

GUARD JOHN NEWMAN III
"It's been tough, but it's what we signed up for. The guys that came here wanted that challenge in the Big 12. We have a great opponent every night. Truth be told, it's made me a better person. Like Coach Miller said, you can't dwell. It hurt today, but even on the off nights you aren't playing, you have to stay sharp in your mind and body. it's the nature of our league: bangers every night."

UP NEXT  
Cincinnati travels to Lawrence, Kansas, to face the third-ranked Jayhawks on Monday night at 9 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.  The contest will mark the sixth-straight ranked opponent.