The No. 19 Cincinnati Bearcats faced the No. 22 Dayton Flyers at Heritage Bank Arena in Downtown Cincinnati for a neutral site game for the second season in a row. Last season, Dayton beat Cincinnati 82-68 at the same arena, will Cincinnati get their lick back?

It was clear early on that the Bearcats quickness and length were a problem for the Flyers as Dillon Mitchell and Dan Skillings were monsters on the glass in the early segment leading to Skillings scoring six early points. A few timely 3’s by Jizzle James, Simas Lukosius and Tyler Betsey helped the Bearcats to a 21-10 lead. The defense the Bearcats played on the Flyers has been the real factor on why the Cats have the lead early. A flagrant foul on Aziz Bandaogo with 3:34 on Zed Key gave the Flyers life, Key made both free throws, then Javon Bennett knocked down a floater to cut the lead to 21-14. With Bandaogo down with two fouls, Arrinten Page saw extended minutes, but also picked up his second foul with 1:36 left in the half. Cincinnati took a 25-17 lead into the half holding Dayton 0-of-7 from 3 and 27.8% from the field, tack on 11 turnovers and you understand the first half. Cincinnati didn’t shoot it much better going 3-of-17 from 3 and shooting 33.3% from the field. Cincinnati out rebounded Dayton 22-13, which was huge.

Dan Skillings led the team in scoring with six, followed by Jizzle James and Simas Lukosius with five. Dillon Mitchell had a game high six rebounds at the half.

In the second half both teams started shooting it better from the field, which led to a better paced game. Skillings had some segments in the second half that got the crowd into with weather cutting for an and 1 attempt, getting offensive rebound put backs and great defense. Lukosius and James both shot the ball better in the second going —. Cincinnati had a scary moment with 17:26 as Bandaogo landed on his face after changing a Dayton shot. Cincinnati got the lead to 18, but Dayton kept crawling back, via missed alley oops by Cincinnati, after a bad turnover by Dan Skillings, Malachi Smith knocked down a 3 that cut the lead down to 4 points. Bandaogo made two big free throws to push the lead back to 6 with less than a minute left, the following play Nate Santos air balled a 3. Thomas went on to knock down 3-of-4 free throws and the Bearcats won 66-59.

Cincinnati knocked off the tough Flyers at Heritage Bank Arena to complete their non conference revenge tour. Now, 9-1 they will face Grambling on Sunday at 4 pm.

Skillings had 17 points and six rebounds, Lukosius had 13 points and six rebounds, James had 14 points and three assists. Cincinnati won the glass 38-32 and the turnover battle 11-17.

This was a real good non-conference win for the Bearcats!