Viktor Lakhin and CJ Fredrick scored 19 points apiece, and host Cincinnati remained unbeaten by hammering Florida Gulf Coast 99-62 Sunday afternoon.
One of 15 undefeated teams remaining, the Bearcats (7-0) trailed just once in the game, led by 23 at halftime and nearly reached the century mark for the first time.
Lakhin missed just two of his 10 shots and added nine rebounds and six assists.
In scoring a career high in points for the Bearcats, Fredrick made 6 of 7 shots from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
Ody Oguama netted 13 points and Aziz Bandaogo had 10. Dan Skillings Jr. had a game-high 12 rebounds.
The 37-point margin of victory increased Cincinnati’s average to 22.3 points — all but one by double digits.
The Bearcats shot 56.5 percent and made 11 of 19 shots from distance (57.9 percent). They held a 46-23 rebound margin.
Keeshawn Kellman led the Eagles (2-7) with 23 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
Florida Gulf Coast played without injured guard Isaiah Thompson, who tops the Atlantic Sun Conference program with 14 points per game.
After dropping five of their past six contests, the visiting Eagles took a 6-4 lead on a layup by Kellman at 17:17, but it was all Bearcats after that.
Cincinnati went out on a balanced 19-2 run with Fredrick pacing the action with five points. Along the way, Cincinnati canned seven straight shots as its shooting hovered around 70 percent.
Following the run, Cincinnati closed out the half with ease and led FGCU 49-26 at the halftime break.
The most impressive area for Cincinnati in the first 20 minutes was its defensive effort. It forced five turnovers and led to an 8-2 fastbreak advantage.
Under pressure from the Bearcats, the Eagles hit just 12 of 32 attempts (37.5 percent) from the field and 2 of 6 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc, and the home side used that defensive effort to its advantage with the basketball, too.
Cincinnati was 20-of-33 shooting (60.6 percent) and sizzled by draining 6 of 9 (66.7 percent) from long range in the first half.
–Field Level Media
Anthony Edwards poured in a game-high 36 points, Julius Randle had 24 as part of a triple-double and the Minnesota Timberwolves wrestled back home-court advantage in their second-round playoff series…
Jayson Tatum finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists and the Boston Celtics pulled away for a 115-93 win over the host New York Knicks on Saturday afternoon…
Nikola Jokic struggled to make shots and Denver lost the offensive rebounding battle 18-5, yet the Nuggets won Game 3 over Oklahoma City and have an opportunity to take a…
Celtics trounce Knicks, cut series deficit to 2-1
Thunder need to fix fourth-quarter issues vs. Nuggets
Tyrese Haliburton, Pacers chasing bounce back in Game 4 vs. Cavaliers
Nuggets send Game 3 to OT, grab 2-1 lead vs. Thunder