It was much smoother sailing for the Cincinnati men’s basketball team in their win over Eastern Kentucky on Sunday. Despite seeing their lead cut to six late in the second half, Cincinnati pulled away rather easily to seal the win. The Bearcats defeated the visiting Colonels by a final score of 87-69. The team was once again led by the terrific play of graduate student David DeJulius.
Cincinnati bounced back offensively in their third game of the season after a having a difficult time scoring in the previous game against Cleveland State. The Bearcats shot 43.5 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from the 3-point line in Sunday’s win. They shot 39.3 percent from the field and shot a putrid 19 percent from three in Thursday’s game.
A quick five points from senior guard Jeremiah Davenport within the first two minutes got the Bearcats offense rolling early in the game. Eastern Kentucky would follow with a 7-0 run for themselves to halt Cincinnati’s momentum, but not for long. The Bearcats exploded on offense, going on a 32-10 run that broke the game wide open in the first half. The massive run lasted about 11 minutes, with multiple scorers emerging to deliver blow after blow to Cleveland State. A 10-point burst from DeJulius lead the way, with eight points from Landers Nolley II and seven from Davenport.
Rebounding wins games
Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller credits the offensive rebounding for the scoring success early in the game. “I thought the offensive board was the biggest factor in the game early on for us,” he said. “I think we had 14 [rebounds] at halftime and I was pleased with that. You didn’t see that continue in the second half. I think we had three in the second half. But I thought that was a really big factor early on in the game.”
The Bearcats have out-rebounded their opponents in every game this year. The second-chance points for Cincinnati played a huge factor in their win over Eastern Kentucky. Junior forward Ody Oguama led all players with 12 total rebounds, pulling in six of Cincinnati’s 17 offensive boards. The Bearcats had 51 total rebounds compared to 35 from Eastern Kentucky.
Working on doing his part to contribute is all of Oguama’s focus. “I didn’t see any matchup advantage, I sort of just did my role, did what I usually always try to do,” he stated. “Go out there, play hard, and get to the glass.”
The importance of rebounding has been emphasized by Miller and his staff this year. Oguama acknowledged the attentiveness of the coaching staff when it comes to crashing the glass. “Every day. Every day. It’s not just him [Miller], it’s all of our coaches,” he said. ” They all just always emphasize on that, telling us to all crash the glass, all five.”
Avoiding the comeback
Through the majority of the second half, Cincinnati looked half the part of the team that took a 15-point lead into the locker room. With five minutes and 30 seconds left in the game, an Eastern Kentucky three-pointer cut the lead to 73-67. Trying to right the ship, Miller calmed his players down and instilled confidence in his team. “Just stay composed, execute our plays that we practice over and over again, pay attention to the details and be strong with the ball,” said sophomore forward Jarrett Hensley, reiterating Miller’s words down the stretch. “I think it was just a big win when it got close and just how we came together and pulled it out.”
Arguably the best individual performance of the game came from Eastern Kentucky. Junior guard Devontae Blanton scored a team-leading 18 points on 8-for-20 shooting from the field. He also tallied a team-high 10 total rebounds and led all players with seven assists.
Leading all scorers in the game was DeJulius, who scored 22 points with two rebounds, two assists and two steals. In just three games, the veteran playmaker has averaged 21.3 points per game. He has shot 56 percent from the field and is 7-for-10 from behind the arc.
In his best outing of the year, Davenport scored 19 points and grabbed four rebounds. He also picked up three steals in the game, one short from matching his career high.
Hensley and Mika Adams-Woods each scored 11 points in the win.
Impressing in his first year as a Bearcat, Nolley accounted for 14 points, five rebounds and three assists while leading the team in playing time with 30 minutes on the court.
The offseason addition of Nolley has created a three-headed scoring machine, in the eyes of Miller. “I think adding Landers to our primary lineup, and when you put Landers [Nolley], David [DeJulius] and Jeremiah [Davenport] all on the floor together, that’s pretty difficult for the other team,” he said. “You can’t just key in on one of them or two of them, and so I do think that all three of them are going to benefit from that at different times this year.”
As the competition is set to get increasingly more difficult, Miller acknowledged the importance of his team learning to fight through adversity. “I can sit there at every timeout and critique every possession, and there’a times that I do that and it probably can be difficult to deal with,” he stated. “You get into games, especially in the second half, it’s just about trying to figure it out, and that’s what we kept talking about in timeouts.”
Improving to 3-0, Cincinnati will go up against Northern Kentucky on Wednesday in their first road game of the year. The Norse fell 79-57 in their season opener against Kent State, then bounced back against Cincinnati Clermont, winning 89-49.