Bearcats shoot the ball better in the second half to complete comeback against Buckeyes, 79-68
Big second halves from Riley and Tejada lead Bearcats to win
The Cincinnati Bearcats faced off against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Care Source Invitational in a preseason scrimmage at the Cincinnati Open’s Sporting Club at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. This is a unique venue for a double header, but for all teams involved it is a chance to get live reps ahead of the season. The Dayton Flyers faced the Xavier Musketeers after the UC/OSU game.
In the first half the Bearcats didn’t get adjusted to shooting outside well, going 11-for-31 from the field for 35.5%, 2-for-12 from 3 for 16.7% and 6-for-14 from the line for 42.9%. They had 11 turnovers and 12 turnovers, but they rebounded the ball well as a whole winning that battle 26-14. Ohio State shot the ball better from the field 48%.
Big man Jayden Hastings had a nice first half leading the Bearcats with nine points on 3-of-5 from the field. Adlan Elamin and David Iweze both did a nice job on the glass collecting six and five respectively.
Ohio State was led by John Mobley Jr. with 10 points on 3-of-7 from the field.
The Bearcats found themselves down 35-30 at the half.
The main concern for the Bearcats in the health of Myles Colvin who went down with a lower leg injury in the first half.
In the second half the Bearcats started to shoot the ball a lot better which allowed them to push the pace. Tyler Tejada took over the second half going 6-of-10 for 15 points. Fouls allowed Ohio State to run offense a little easier as the Bearcats were in the one in one at around 15 minutes and double bonus at 12 minutes. Tylen Riley and Jayden Hastings both had nice second halves both making plays to either tie the game or give the Bearcats the lead. Riley had 18 and Hastings had seven.
In the second half the Bearcats shot 65.4% from the filed, 33.3% from 3 and 72.2% from the line.
The Bearcats won the battle of the glass, 45-35, while they had a ton of fouls 27 to 23, they had three in double figures. Riley finished with a game high 23 points, Tejada had 17 and Hastings had 16. Mobley Jr, had 15 points for Ohio State.
With the 79-68 win the Bearcats take care their first exhibition action since their trip to the islands.
Note: After the game, Coach Calhoun said Colvin's injury appears to be minor and could've played if this was a regular season game and the same with Pippen for Ohio State.