Alex Frank | Sports Director
As the Cincinnati Bearcats men’s basketball Twitter page tweeted after the game, “Annnnnndddddd exhale.”
Annnnnndddddd exhale.#Bearcats pic.twitter.com/7AO1ASg3iz
— Cincinnati Men’s Hoops (@GoBearcatsMBB) January 11, 2019
All is good in Cincinnati after the Bearcats gritty come-from-behind 70-65 overtime win at the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Thursday night.
Sure, the loss at East Carolina might still be resonating within some of us, but for the Bearcats to come back and win this game against a very solid Tulsa team is critical at this point of the season.
So many things had to go right for the Bearcats to win Thursday night, and they did.
Down six with a minute left in the second half; here we go again is what I was thinking.
Another game where the Bearcats found themselves trailing by two scores with 60 seconds remaining, having given up nine three-point baskets in the second half, a big early lead in the first half erased; this was shaping out to be a repeat, but better, version of the game at East Carolina.
Only this time, the Bearcats finished and came away with the win.
Cane Broome outscored Tulsa 7-1- Tulsa’s one point coming on a free throw by redshirt-sophomore Jeriah Horne- to send the game into overtime.
Say what you want about Broome and his struggles this season, but when he’s on, as he was Thursday night, he is extremely valuable to this team.
His stat line Thursday night: 16 points on 6-12 shooting including two threes. Thursday night was his first game with a three-point field goal since Nov. 27, 2018 against Arkansas-Pine Pluff.
All 16 points of Broome’s points came in the second half, when Cincinnati needed them most.
Then in overtime, it was Jarron Cumberland, who on Wednesday was named to the Lute Olson Player of the Year midseason watch list, who took over in helping the Bearcats put the game away.
Cumberland scored six points on 2-3 shooting, including a three, and also took a critical charge with just over two minutes remaining in the overtime period.
That charge sent Tulsa’s DaQuan Jeffries (Sr./G/F) to the bench with his fifth foul, and that slowed their offense to a screeching halt.
Cincinnati’s defense also rose up in overtime recording five straight stops to help preserve the five-point win.
Great teams win these kinds of games on the road following a disappointing loss.
Great teams also use these wins to build momentum moving forward.
Less than 48 hours from now, the Bearcats will host UConn.
Cincinnati bounced back Thursday night after a five-day layoff in between games.
Now they’ll take the court not even 48 hours after the bounce-back win.
That could be a good thing in terms of building momentum.
Other scores from the American Athletic Conference Thursday Night
UConn 76 SMU 64
Memphis 78 East Carolina 72