TicketsCINCINNATI – The Cincinnati men’s basketball team opened its 125th season of basketball with a 94-63 victory over Western Carolina Monday night at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats have won their last six season openers, including all five under head coach Wes Miller.
“I think that it's good to get the first one under your belt,” Miller said. “We played two exhibition games on the road in front of other fans so it was really nice to get out to Fifth Third in front of our fans. I want to really thank the people that came out and supported us tonight. There are some positive things we can take from the game. I’m happy with 20 assists. I think we have a lot of guys who can make plays with the basketball, can score the basketball and can make good decisions. But with 15 turnovers, I think the decision-making can keep getting better.”
UC comfortably outmatched Western Carolina across multiple key categories: field goal percentage (54.2%-35.9%), points off turnovers (26-13), bench points (26-10) and fast-break points (16-0).
Four Bearcats reached double figures, led by freshman Shon Abaev, sophomore Mostapha Thiam and senior Baba Miller, who each poured in 18 points. Freshman Jordi Rodriguez added 10 points off the bench.
Abaev's 18 points marked the highest scoring debut by a Bearcat freshman since Sean Kilpatrick netted 21 against Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 15, 2010. Miller recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds to complement his 18 points.
After a Abaev jumper opened the scoring in the first 15 seconds, a pair of Kerr Kriisa threes pushed the Cincinnati lead to 8-2 less than 90 seconds into the contest. Western Carolina kept the contest within six until an 11-0 Bearcat spurt over 2:14 extended the advantage to 25-8 on a Keyshuan Tillery layup with 12:50 remaining in the half.
The Catamounts would get no closer than 14 the rest of the half, with Cincinnati opening up a 48-20 advantage with 3:01 left to play before taking a 49-28 lead into the break.
Over the opening 20 minutes, the Bearcats turned 14 Western Carolina turnovers into 18 points and shot 53.1% from the field (17-for-32). Nine of the 11 Bearcats who played found the scoring column, with Abaev leading with nine and Miller and Rodriguez following with seven points apiece. Cord Stansberry paced Western Carolina with 12 first-half points.
The Bearcats opened the second half on a 6-0 run to build a 28-point advantage at 56-28. After the Catamounts had cut into the lead, a Thiam 3-pointer with 9:07 remaining in the contest capped a 5-0 spurt that extended the Bearcats' lead to 69-49.
UC took its largest lead of the game with an 8-0 burst that pushed the margin to 33 points, leading 94-61, with 17 seconds remaining.
Cincinnati continues its four-game homestand to start the season when it hosts Georgia State at 7 p.m. Friday.