TicketsCINCINNATI – The Cincinnati men’s basketball team lost, 64-56, to Eastern Michigan on Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats dropped to 5-2 on the season, while the Eagles improved to 4-3.
“I’m very disappointed,” Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller said. “Adversity struck not the way we wanted it to, but now we have to handle it the right way. That means that we can’t accept it, we have to learn from it, and we have to become a better team because of it. That will be our approach moving forward.”
Cincinnati was led by senior guard Day Day Thomas, who scored 17 points and made 4-of-8 3-point attempts. Redshirt junior guard Sencire Harris added 12 points in the loss.
Eastern Michigan was led by Carlos Hart, who scored 15 points.
Trailing by 12 with eight minutes left, a 3-pointer from senior guard Kerr Kriisa brought UC within nine and sparked a furious Bearcats comeback attempt.
Seconds later, Harris took his second charge of the second half, and a triple by Thomas with 6:20 left made the score 46-40.
After a second-chance layup by Eastern Michigan guard Addison Patterson, Thomas drilled another 3-pointer to make the score 48-43.
A pair of free throws from Harris cut the deficit to 3, 48-45, with just over five minutes remaining, and a steal and layup from redshirt freshman forward Tyler McKinley made it a one-point game seconds later.
Patterson answered with two free throws to spark a 7-0 run for the Eagles.
Hart capped the run with a 3-pointer from the wing to stretch the Eastern Michigan lead to 55-47 with three minutes left.
Cincinnati trailed by as many as 17 in the first half as the Bearcats missed 18 of their first 22 shots.
Led by guards Mak Manciel and Jon Sanders, who combined to shoot 4-of-5 from behind the arc and score 16 first-half points, Eastern Michigan shot 50% from the field before the break.
A jumper and 3-pointer from Sanders lifted EMU to an early 8-0 lead. EMU later used a 17-1 run to take a 27-10 first-half advantage.
A top-of-the-key 30-foot 3-pointer from Thomas sparked a 12-2 run to get Cincinnati back in the game. Another trey by Thomas brought the Bearcats within 7, 29-22, with two minutes left before the break.
Manciel was fouled shooting a three right before the halftime buzzer and made two free throws to give the Eagles a 36-23 lead at the break.
UP NEXT
Cincinnati concludes its three-game homestand when it hosts Tarleton State at 7 p.m. Monday. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on 700 WLW.