TicketsCINCINNATI— Cincinnati's Simas Lukosius' late-game heroics lifted the Cincinnati men's basketball team past Kansas State, 74-72, on Saturday inside Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats (17-12) claimed their sixth conference victory of the season, dominating the turnover battle 19-6 and scoring 29 points off the Wildcats' giveaways.
Besides playing hero for the Bearcats, Lukosius added 13 points and knocked down three from beyond the arc including the game winner with 19 seconds left.
Sixth-year senior guard John Newman III paced the Bearcats with 18 points and led the charge in the second half scoring 13 points on six-of-eight shooting in the period. Point guards Day Day Thomas (14) and Jizzle James (10) also ended the game in double figures.
After leading by as many as 13 in the second half, Kansas State's Tylor Perry erupted down the stretch in the second half as he gave Kansas State a one-point lead (72-71) with 1:30 left in the game after hitting his fifth trey of the half.
Down by one with 19 seconds to go, Lukosius came in clutch curling around a pick and drilling a 3-pointer from the top of the key to UC the lead, 74-72, with nine seconds left.
On the following K-State possession, Newman III forced Tylor Perry to lose control of the ball driving to the net and gave it back to UC with 2.7 remaining which would eventually ice the game for Cincinnati.
The Bearcats lead shrank to three with four minutes to go after a 10-0 run from Kansas State, including eight from the Wildcats Tylor Perry, who knocked down two 3's.
Perry scored a game-high 26 points, including 17 down the stretch in the second but it was not enough to surpass the Bearcats in the end.
Newman III caught fire to begin the second half going 4-for-4 from the field and hit a corner 3 that forced a K-State timeout as UC extended its lead to 12 (47-35).
After forcing another turnover Thomas flew down the court and slammed home a huge windmill dunk as the Bearcats made nine of their first 13 shots in the second.
Kansas State connected on back-to-back shots from beyond the arc and brought the lead back down single digits (55-49) with 11:30 to go.
Cincinnati came out the gate locked in on defense, forcing four turnovers and holding Kansas State scoreless over the first four minutes of the game.
Five straight points from Thomas and baskets from Viktor Lakhin and James propelled UC to a seven-point (28-21) advantage with 4:30 left in the first.
Back-to-Back K-State turnovers allowed Cincinnati to extend its lead to double-digits as an emphatic Aziz Bandaogo slam capped an 11-2 run putting UC up 32-21.
Both teams traded buckets over the final minutes of the period as Cincinnati kept the Wildcats at arm's length and headed to the half up 34-27.
FROM WES MILLER
"It is good to see some smiles in that locker room after the game. We felt like we'd been right there for the most part in a lot of games. We felt like we got away from who we are at TCU, but we felt like we'd been right there, and I thought after TCU we've gotten back to our approach and everything that we try to be about to our standard every day and it was nice to get over the hump tonight. I thought we played a good game. I thought defensively, we set a tone early by getting stops to start the game. I thought we were active defensively. I thought we paid good attention to the game plan defensively early on. I thought we executed well tonight at times and that's why we were in the position we were in with five- or six-minutes left. You guys know and our players know that I'm not real happy with some of the defensive errors that let them back in the game.
"This should have been one of those games with how well we played that we should have finished and had been dribbling the clock out but that's the Big 12 and give Kansas State and Jerome [Tang] a lot of credit. They are not going to go away and nobody is going to go away in this league, but we made some defensive errors down the stretch that we just can't make. We gave up a layup in transition with guys back because Aziz [Bandaogo] is laying on the ground or fouling on a three-point shooter because we left one of the best shooters in our league and in the country open. We did some amazing things that we shouldn't have done and then we let them make some big-time shots and give them credit for doing it. That is how you get in a position where Tylor [Perry] can make that crazy shot to go up by one at the end of the shot clock. We shouldn't have been there. That said, we've lost many close games this year, and for them to come back and erase that double figure lead and take the lead, I was proud of our execution. Simas [Lukošius] makes another big time shot and he's done it for us over and over again. Jizzle [James] made a great read, and we gave him two options, to try to attack and if it's not there, we are going to execute something for Simas [Lukošius] and Jizzle [James] made a really nice play. I thought Day Day [Thomas] and Aziz [Bandaogo] really did a nice job executing to get Simas [Lukošius] open and he makes another big shot. After that we were able to execute another stop and get them to turn the ball over. I thought our execution after they took the lead was good, and it was good to get a couple of stops to finish the game."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati hits the road to face Oklahoma on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. (ESPN+) in Norman before returning home to face West Virginia in its regular-season finale at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) on Saturday.
The Bearcats (17-12) claimed their sixth conference victory of the season, dominating the turnover battle 19-6 and scoring 29 points off the Wildcats' giveaways.
Besides playing hero for the Bearcats, Lukosius added 13 points and knocked down three from beyond the arc including the game winner with 19 seconds left.
Sixth-year senior guard John Newman III paced the Bearcats with 18 points and led the charge in the second half scoring 13 points on six-of-eight shooting in the period. Point guards Day Day Thomas (14) and Jizzle James (10) also ended the game in double figures.
After leading by as many as 13 in the second half, Kansas State's Tylor Perry erupted down the stretch in the second half as he gave Kansas State a one-point lead (72-71) with 1:30 left in the game after hitting his fifth trey of the half.
Down by one with 19 seconds to go, Lukosius came in clutch curling around a pick and drilling a 3-pointer from the top of the key to UC the lead, 74-72, with nine seconds left.
On the following K-State possession, Newman III forced Tylor Perry to lose control of the ball driving to the net and gave it back to UC with 2.7 remaining which would eventually ice the game for Cincinnati.
The Bearcats lead shrank to three with four minutes to go after a 10-0 run from Kansas State, including eight from the Wildcats Tylor Perry, who knocked down two 3's.
Perry scored a game-high 26 points, including 17 down the stretch in the second but it was not enough to surpass the Bearcats in the end.
Newman III caught fire to begin the second half going 4-for-4 from the field and hit a corner 3 that forced a K-State timeout as UC extended its lead to 12 (47-35).
After forcing another turnover Thomas flew down the court and slammed home a huge windmill dunk as the Bearcats made nine of their first 13 shots in the second.
Kansas State connected on back-to-back shots from beyond the arc and brought the lead back down single digits (55-49) with 11:30 to go.
Cincinnati came out the gate locked in on defense, forcing four turnovers and holding Kansas State scoreless over the first four minutes of the game.
Five straight points from Thomas and baskets from Viktor Lakhin and James propelled UC to a seven-point (28-21) advantage with 4:30 left in the first.
Back-to-Back K-State turnovers allowed Cincinnati to extend its lead to double-digits as an emphatic Aziz Bandaogo slam capped an 11-2 run putting UC up 32-21.
Both teams traded buckets over the final minutes of the period as Cincinnati kept the Wildcats at arm's length and headed to the half up 34-27.
FROM WES MILLER
"It is good to see some smiles in that locker room after the game. We felt like we'd been right there for the most part in a lot of games. We felt like we got away from who we are at TCU, but we felt like we'd been right there, and I thought after TCU we've gotten back to our approach and everything that we try to be about to our standard every day and it was nice to get over the hump tonight. I thought we played a good game. I thought defensively, we set a tone early by getting stops to start the game. I thought we were active defensively. I thought we paid good attention to the game plan defensively early on. I thought we executed well tonight at times and that's why we were in the position we were in with five- or six-minutes left. You guys know and our players know that I'm not real happy with some of the defensive errors that let them back in the game.
"This should have been one of those games with how well we played that we should have finished and had been dribbling the clock out but that's the Big 12 and give Kansas State and Jerome [Tang] a lot of credit. They are not going to go away and nobody is going to go away in this league, but we made some defensive errors down the stretch that we just can't make. We gave up a layup in transition with guys back because Aziz [Bandaogo] is laying on the ground or fouling on a three-point shooter because we left one of the best shooters in our league and in the country open. We did some amazing things that we shouldn't have done and then we let them make some big-time shots and give them credit for doing it. That is how you get in a position where Tylor [Perry] can make that crazy shot to go up by one at the end of the shot clock. We shouldn't have been there. That said, we've lost many close games this year, and for them to come back and erase that double figure lead and take the lead, I was proud of our execution. Simas [Lukošius] makes another big time shot and he's done it for us over and over again. Jizzle [James] made a great read, and we gave him two options, to try to attack and if it's not there, we are going to execute something for Simas [Lukošius] and Jizzle [James] made a really nice play. I thought Day Day [Thomas] and Aziz [Bandaogo] really did a nice job executing to get Simas [Lukošius] open and he makes another big shot. After that we were able to execute another stop and get them to turn the ball over. I thought our execution after they took the lead was good, and it was good to get a couple of stops to finish the game."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati hits the road to face Oklahoma on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. (ESPN+) in Norman before returning home to face West Virginia in its regular-season finale at 2 p.m. (ESPN+) on Saturday.