West Virginia men’s basketball led by as many 16 in the second half, but it came crashing down as WVU’s season ended with a 90-85 loss to Cincinnati in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Tuesday.
Cincinnati’s Simas Lukosius ended with 31 points, with 26 coming in the second half shooting 8-for-13 from the field, helping lead the Bearcats’ comeback.
WVU would also be whistled for three technical fouls in the second half, all coming within a 4:21 span, helping Cincinnati easily cut into WVU’s lead.
Days after beating WVU by 36, Cincinnati picked up where they left off, getting out to an early 10-3 lead after making an 8-0 run. West Virginia struggled to knock down shots to begin the contest, making just three shots on their first 10 attempts.
Both teams would struggle offensively nearing the midway point of the first half. Cincinnati would go over three minutes without a field goal, allowing WVU to cut the deficit to one,17-16 with just under nine minutes to go.
The Mountaineers would go up 21-19 by the U8 timeout after going on a 7-0 run. The teams would then go back and forth after finding a rhythm offensively down the stretch in the first half. Nearing the very end of the first half, West Virginia would hold the momentum, as they ended the half making six of their last seven field goal attempts. They shot 51.9% from the field in the first half and 60% from three. Whereas Cincinnati shot 42.4% from the field and 31.6% from three.
After trailing for almost the whole game on Saturday, WVU led 38-36 heading into halftime on Tuesday afternoon.
There were five times the game was tied and 11 lead changes in the first half. Both teams turned the ball over five times in the first 20 minutes, with the Bearcats scoring eight points off of turnovers and the Mountaineers four. West Virginia was slightly out-rebounded 19-16 in the first half, but other than that bested Cincinnati in just about every stat in the first half.
Day Day Thomas led all scorers with 16 points in the first half shooting six of 10 from the field and four of five from three, propelling the Bearcats offense. RaeQuan Battle had 12 points for the Mountaineers and Quinn Slazinski 11.
West Virginia would come out hot in the second half making their first five shots, building a 10-point lead, 52-42. Cincinnati struggled to find their footing in the second half, going over four minutes without making a field goal allowing WVU to build their lead. The Mountaineers led by as much as 16, but then Cincinnati would cut the deficit.
The Bearcats were on 13-2 around the midway point of the second half. They tied the game at 68 with 7:24 left to go before WVU took the lead right back. The Bearcats wouldn’t back down, however, taking the lead 71-70 on the next possession. It was tightly contested toward the end with the Mountaineers tying the game at 74 with just over five minutes left to go and would take a 76-75 shortly after.
Cincinnati held a narrow 83-82 lead after making a 6-0 run, shooting three of three from the field. West Virginia was doing what they could to stay with them, making four of their last five field goals with 2:46 to play.
Jesse Edwards made a layup with 1:34 left to give WVU the lead back, but it wouldn’t stand for long with Cincinnati matching it to go up 85-84. A three-pointer at 0:15 would give the Bearcats a five-point lead of 90-85 that would stand.
Thomas ended with 29 points for the Bearcats, shooting 10 of 18 from the field and seven of 10 from three to go along with two rebounds and two assists. Cincinnati out-rebounded West Virginia 36-32 and shot better down the stretch, after the Mountaineers came out of the locker room on fire.
Five Mountaineers ended in double figures, Edwards with 17, Slazinski with 15, Battle with 14, Kerr Kriisa with 13 and Josiah Harris with 10. Slazinski led West Virginia in rebounding with seven, while Kriisa had seven assists.
West Virginia ends their season 9-23.
