Cincinnati Rallies To Beat West Virginia in Big 12 Tournament
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Simas Lukosius and Day Day Thomas led a furious comeback as Cincinnati defeated West Virginia, 90-85, in the first round of the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Center on Tuesday.
Cincinnati (18-13) was down by as many as 16 early in the second half but rallied behind an incredible shooting performance by the two guards.
West Virginia (9-22) was shooting as high as 60% early in the second half before Cincinnati’s rally. The Mountaineers gave up six free points on technical fouls called on three different WVU players.
A blowout turned into drama in the final minutes. With two free throws with 1:01 left, Lukosius gave Cincinnati a three-point lead, 87-84. At the other end, West Virginia’s Jesse Edwards shot a pair after drawing a foul. He made the first but missed the second, and Cincinnati’s Jizzle James drew the rebound.
After Edwards rejected a James shot attempt with four seconds left on the shot clock, Thomas nailed a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to give the Bearcats a five-point lead, 90-85.
The old Big East rivals faced each other twice in the regular season. West Virginia won the first meeting in Morgantown, 69-65, while the Bearcats won the second in Cincinnati, 92-59. That second game was the regular-season finale for both teams, so this was their second match-up in three days.
This one got crazy. Lukosius put on an absolute shooting clinic in the second half, finishing with 31 points and eight 3-pointers. His seventh trey of the game gave the Bearcats a momentary two-point lead with less than six minutes to play. WVU’s Kobe Johnson tied it on a jumper, and the game came down to the final minutes.
On two different occasions, the Mountaineers rebuilt the lead back to five points, including once on a Josiah Harris 3-pointer. But a 6-0 Cincinnati run, on 3-pointers by Thomas, pushed the Bearcats back into the lead, 83-82, with 2:46 left.
Thomas finished with a huge game of his own, scoring 29 points for Cincinnati, including seven 3-pointers. Skilling added 13 points.
Edwards led West Virginia with 17 points, followed by Quinn Slazinski with 15, RaeQuan Battle with 14, Kerr Kriisa with 13, and Josiah Harris with 10.
This one looked like it was going to be a Mountaineer rout early in the second half. WVU had a two-point lead at the half but came out red-hot, going on a 14-6 run to take a 10-point lead.
WVU led by as much as 16 eight minutes through the second half and was shooting better than 60%. The Bearcats were in a shooting drought, and it seemed like there was little they could do to catch up.
That changed fast.
A Skillings Jr. dunk in transition off a WVU turnover cut the Mountaineers lead to nine, 64-55, with 10:16 left. That capped a 7-0 Cincinnati run.
But a critical stretch made the game manageable and helped Cincinnati cut the WVU lead to 68-64 with 7:24 left. After a Lukosius 3-pointer cut the lead to eight, Edwards was called for a technical foul after being in close quarters with Cincinnati’s Aziz Bandaogo. Lukosius made two more free throws, and then Skilling made 1-of-2 free throws after drawing a foul on a drive.
Right before the under-8 timeout, Lukosius cut the lead to four points with another 3-pointer, his fifth of the game and fourth of the half.
After the timeout, Battle was called for a Class A technical foul, WVU’s third in five minutes. Lukosius made both, and then Thomas shot two free throws after drawing a foul before the timeout. He made both and erased WVU’s lead with 7:24 left.
WVU’s Kobe Johnson had the first technical foul with 11:45 left. Lukosius shot and made both of those free throws.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
