No. 22 Cincinnati roars back late to upend rival Xavier

No. 22 Cincinnati rallied from a seven-point deficit in the second half to defeat cross-town rival Xavier 68-65 on Saturday on the Cincinnati campus.

Simas Lukosius had 11 of his team-leading 14 points in the second half for Cincinnati (8-1), which snapped a five-game losing streak to Xavier in another epic game in the rivalry.

Dillon Mitchell added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Bearcats, while Aziz Bandaogo was a force inside with three dunks and a layup to finish with 12 points.

Xavier’s Ryan Conwell drained a 3-pointer with 16.3 seconds left and was fouled. He drained the free throw to cut Cincinnati’s lead to 66-65. Jizzle James went 0-of-11 shooting but hit a pair of free throws with 13.8 seconds left to push the lead back to three.

Zach Freemantle had 16 of his team-leading 18 points in the first half while Conwell added 17 points for Xavier (8-3), which has Big East games ahead this week against two-time defending champion UConn and No. 6 Marquette.

Freemantle’s potential game-tying 3-point attempt bounced off the back of the rim as time expired.

Conwell drilled a 3-pointer to give the Musketeers their biggest lead at 53-46 with 7:50 left. Lukosius ignited an 11-2 run for the Bearcats with a layup and a 3-pointer before Dan Skillings Jr.’s layup with 3:22 left gave the Bearcats their first lead since early in the second half at 57-55.

Cincinnati, which entered with the fourth-lowest free throw percentage in the country at 59.4 percent, was 19 of 26 from the line to help overcome its second-half deficit.

The Bearcats used an early 10-0 run to take a 20-13 lead and led 25-16 on Arrinten Page’s dunk with 7:08 left in the first half. Cincinnati dominated inside with four dunks and a layup.

Xavier answered with stifling defense, holding Cincinnati without a field goal over the final 7:08 of the first half while going on a 15-5 run. The Xavier surge was led by Freemantle, who drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer and stake the Musketeers to a 31-30 halftime lead.

Dailyn Swain’s 3-pointer capped a 6-0 Xavier run to give the Musketeers a 39-34 lead just three minutes into the second half. Cincinnati answered to tie the game 42-42 four minutes later.

–Field Level Media