Big second half rallies Cincinnati past Evansville 76-58

Dec 29, 2024, 09:42 pm

CINCINNATI -- — John Newman III scored 16 points to lead a balanced scoring effort and Cincinnati rallied in the second half to defeat Evansville 76-58 on Friday night.

Cincinnati, now 10-0 at home, outscored Evansville 44-18 in the second half, led by Simas Lukosius who scored 12 points on 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range.

In addition to Newman's 16 points, Lukosius finished with 15, Viktor Lahkin 11, Dan Skillings Jr. 10 and Day Day Thomas 10 for the Bearcats (11-2). Thomas added seven assists, six rebounds and four steals. Lahkin had nine rebounds with four assists.

Yacine Toumi had 17 points and nine rebounds to lead Evansville (10-3). Kenny Strawbridge scored 14 points and Tanner Cuff added 11.

After being outshot 58% to 36% and falling behind 40-32 in the first half, the Bearcats dominated the second half.

Cincinnati held Evansville to 10 points over the first 12 minutes after halftime while scoring 28. The Bearcats led 60-48 with slightly over eight minutes left in the game. Lukosius scored nine points on 3-for-3 3-point shooting and Newman added six in the run. After Toumi hit a jumper to open the second half, the Purple Aces missed their next 13 shots.

Three-pointers from Lukosius and Newman helped put the Bearcats up 67-50 with about five minutes remaining and they led by at least 14 points the rest of the way.

The Bearcats shot 39% for the game and got a boost from a 49-29 advantage in rebounds. They had 18 offensive rebounds, leading to a 17-6 advantage in second-chance points.

Evansville is off to its best start in several seasons, having reached double digits in wins for the first time since 2018-19. Their 10 wins so far are twice as many as last season. The Purple Aces (1-1 Missouri Valley Conference) return to conference play on Wednesday with a road game against Indiana State.

The Bearcats open Big 12 play on Saturday, Jan. 6, when they face BYU on the road.

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