TicketsCINCINNATI – The Cincinnati men’s basketball team rolled to a 76-58 win over Tarleton State Monday night inside Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats improved to 6-2 on the year, while the Texans fell to 5-4.
“We've been trying to work on some things offensively the last couple of days, and I could see some of those things taking shape,” Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller said. “I thought we did a good job with our movement. You could see the movement early. I thought we got the ball to the inside with the dribble and with the pass early, and I thought we generated really good shots early in the first half. We didn't sustain it throughout the whole game, but you could see some of the things that we were doing in the last couple of practices taking shape offensively.”
Graduate guard Kerr Kriisa fueled the offense with a game-high 20 points, knocking down a season-best six threes in a sharp shooting display. Graduate guard Day Day Thomas added 19 points, hitting five threes of his own for his sixth double-figure outing of the season. He also tallied four assists and five rebounds.
Senior forward Baba Miller controlled the interior with 13 points and 11 rebounds, earning the 10th double-double of his career. Freshman guard Shon Abaev rounded out the Bearcats’ double-figure scorers with 10 points and seven boards off the bench.
Sophomore center Moustapha Thiam anchored the defense, registering four blocks—the fourth time this season he’s posted three or more rejections.
The Bearcats caught fire from deep, drilling a season-high 15 3-pointers as part of a strong perimeter performance. Cincinnati shot 46.4% from the field (26-56) and 41.7% from deep (15-36), while Tarleton State finished at 41.2% overall (21-51) and 40% from three (8-20).
Cincinnati dominated the glass with a 38-23 rebounding edge, including 14 offensive boards, and out-assisted the Texans 16-10 in a complete team effort.
After a lackluster start led to a 10-9 Tarleton State advantage after a Leroy Kelly IV 3-pointer with 15:06 remaining in the first half, the Bearcats went on a 15-2 spurt, kickstarted by threes from Sencire Harris and Jalen Celestine, to take a 24-12 lead with 8:13 to play. Cincinnati held a 29-19 edge after a Kriisa three with just more than five minutes remaining, but miscues continued to prove costly for the Bearcats, who turned it over six times the rest of the way as Tarleton State trimmed the deficit to 31-29 at the break.
Miller paced the Bearcats with seven points and five boards over the first 20 minutes, but the senior forward also turned it over seven times. Thomas and Kriisa added six apiece. The Texans’ Ocypher Owens scored 10 in the opening stanza.
In the opening minutes of the second half, a trio of 3-pointers sparked a 9-0 Cincinnati run, pushing the lead to 45-31 with 17:05 remaining. Tarleton State responded with a surge of its own, as back-to-back threes from Freddy Hicks capped a 10-0 Texans run that cut the deficit to 47-43 at the 13:07 mark.
The Bearcats regained control, stretching the margin to 64-49 after a thunderous two-handed alley-oop slam by Miller off a Kriisa assist with just over eight minutes left. Cincinnati’s lead never dipped below 14 the rest of the way, and a late 6-2 spurt sealed the Bearcats’ 18-point victory.
Cincinnati travels to Xavier for the Crosstown Shootout at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Cintas Center. The game will be televised on TNT and broadcast on 700 WLW.