TicketsCINCINNATI — The Cincinnati men’s basketball team battled but eventually was unable to keep up with preseason top-five team Illinois, dropping a 105-96 decision in an exhibition contest Saturday at Fifth Third Arena.
Illinois shot 52.9% from the field, while the Bearcats shot 48.0%, and the Illini held a slight advantage from deep, connecting on 14 threes to a dozen for Cincinnati.
The Bearcats were led by Tylen Riley, who went for a game-high 31 points and 13 assists to go along with five boards and three steals. Adlan Elamin added 15 and Tyler Tejada poured in 13 for Cincinnati. Andrej Stojakovic led six Illini in double figures with 24, while Quentin Coleman went for 14 points, eight assists and seven boards.
In a back-and-forth first half in which both teams shot it well, Illinois took an early 13-6 lead on a Stefan Vaaks corner three at the 16:14 mark, but the Bearcats scored seven of the next eight to make it a one-point game at 14-13 after a Myles Colvin layup with 14:25 remaining. The Illini pushed the lead back to seven at 28-21 on a three-point play by Vaaks at the 10:11 mark but Cincinnati scored the next eight on four apiece from Jayden Hastings and Riley to take its first lead of the contest at 29-28 with 8:54 left to play.
The Bearcats held a 37-33 lead on an MJ Collins Jr. lead at the 6:31 mark but a 12-0 spurt gave the Illini a 45-37 lead with 4:38 remaining. A Riley jumper with 4:06 to play but an end to the Illini run but Illinois answered as an Stojakovic layup extended the lead to a game-high 10 at 49-39 with just under three minutes remaining. However, Riley continued his hot shooting, scoring the final five points of the half for the Bearcats to make it a 54-49 game at the break.
Riley led all Bearcats with 16 to go along with a team-high six assists at the half, while Hastings and Tejada added eight points apiece. Stojakovic paced Illinois with 16, while Vaaks chipped in with 12.
Illinois’ lead extended to nine at 75-66 on a pair of Zavier Zens free throws at the 11:53 mark of the second half but a dunk by David Iweze and a triple from the top of the key by Riley Allenspach cut the deficit to 75-71 at the midway point. A pair of free throws from Riley trimmed the lead to two with 9:18 remaining but, after the teams traded baskets, consecutive triples from Jake Davis and Vaaks pushed Illinois’ lead to 83-77 with just under seven minutes remaining. Elamin answered with a layup on the break but the Illini’s Coleman responded by scoring the next 10 to push the advantage to a game-high 14 at 93-79 the 4:19 mark.
Back-to-back triples from Elamin and Tejada trimmed the Illini lead to seven at 96-89 with just over two minutes remaining but the Bearcats would get no closer.
The Bearcats close their exhibition slate against Oakland at 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at Fifth Third Arena.