CINCINNATI, OH – The University of Cincinnati Bearcats hosted the Eastern Carolina University Pirates (ECU) Sunday evening at Fifth Third Arena. Both teams were coming off of losses during the week and were hungry for a victory. Despite ECU defeating Cincinnati last season, they didn’t stand a chance against the Bearcats tonight, who put in serious work to come away with a 82-57 victory.
The game started and it didn’t take long for Cincinnati to take the lead and they didn’t let up. The Bearcats outshot the Pirates 47% to 28%, with Bearcats Tre Scott (13) leading offensively with 10 points for the half. Defensively, Keith Williams (2) pulled down 9 rebounds in the half. In total, the Bearcats out-rebounded the Pirates 25-15 in the first half alone. Cincinnati went into halftime leading ECU 45-28.
After a halftime breather, both teams came out, ready to roll for another half. ECU again just couldn’t handle Cincinnati’s energy. It wasn’t long into the half that the Pirates started to look exhausted against the Bearcats, struggling to keep up, both offensively and defensively. While ECU’s shooting percentage improved this half, it just wasn’t enough to get them even close to catching up with Cincinnati. Scott lead offensively with 16 points for the Bearcats and Jarron Cumberland (34) wasn’t far behind with 13 points. Defensively, Cincinnati had 46 rebounds to ECU’s 34. ECU’s Jayden Gardner (1), who is known for being offensively strong, was held to only 13 points for the game which speaks to Cincinnati putting on a strong defensive showing.
In a post-game press conference, Scott spoke to his pattern of having a rough game, then a great game. Scott stated “it’s all a mindset” and stated he felt that his game tonight was great. Scott also stated that his six dunks for the night was the most he’s ever had in a game. Despite a great showing, Scott stated there were slip ups tonight but overall, him and his fellow Bearcats had a great win.
Cincinnati advances to 11-7 overall, 4-2 in the AAC while ECU falls to 8-10, 2-3 in the AAC. The Bearcats will travel to Temple on Wednesday, January 22 to take on the Owls, while ECU will travel to SMU that same day.
Written by Kiley Compton
