Day Day Thomas scored 19 points while Jalen Celestine had four 3-pointers and 12 points off the bench to help host Cincinnati shock No. 2 Iowa State 79-70 in a Big 12 game on Saturday afternoon.
Baba Miller grabbed 12 rebounds to go with eight points and Jizzle James added 15 points to help Cincinnati (10-8, 2-3) grab its best win of the season and its second straight in conference play.
Milan Momcilovic connected on 8 of 14 shots from 3-point range to lead the Cyclones (16-2, 3-2) with a career-best 34 points. Joshua Jefferson was the only other Iowa State player in double figures with 16 points. Cincinnati’s bench outscored the visitors 20-5.
It was the second straight loss for the Cyclones, who fell in a Big 12 game Tuesday at Kansas, 84-63.
Cincinnati, which had a chance at a Top 10 win at home two weeks ago against then-No. 8 Houston, losing 67-60, got a signature win for coach Wes Miller, who was booed loudly before the last two home games, including Saturday’s contest against the Cyclones.
Cincinnati’s Sencire Harris had a steal and was going in for a dunk and a 71-56 lead with six minutes left, but Harris missed the dunk and Iowa State answered with the next eight points, cutting its deficit to 69-64.
The missed dunk was part of a 14-2 run that helped the Cylcones cut a 17-point deficit to five before Thomas drained a jumper at the free-throw line with 3:22 remaining. Thomas followed in the next possession with a basket, and Cincinnati led 73-64 with 2:41 remaining.
In the first half, three consecutive 3-pointers from Celestine and another from Thomas sparked an early 14-0 run and gave Cincinnati a 19-8 lead.
Cincinnati’s sharpshooting in the first 10 minutes from deep allowed Bearcats to maintain control. They drained five of their first eight attempts from long distance to build leads of 21-10 and 25-14.
But after missing their next six 3-pointers and nine of their next 10, the Bearcats maintained a solid lead thanks to their trademark tenacious defense. Cincinnati had a commanding 14-0 lead in points off turnovers for the first 17 minutes of the game. The Bearcats were also helped out by poor free-throw shooting from the Cyclones as the visitors missed 5 of their first 10 attempts from the line.
Cincinnati missed its last six shots over the final three minutes of the first half as Iowa State closed on a 7-0 run to draw within 35-31 at the half.
Iowa State opened the second half by outscoring Cincinnati 7-3 to finally tie the game, 38-38.
–Field Level Media
But after Joshua Jefferson’s jumper with 16:19 left in the second half, Cincinnati held Iowa State without a field goal for the next five minutes, going on an 11-0 run to build its biggest lead, 56-42, on a Jizzle James jumper with 13:05 remaining.
