Moustapha Thiam stepped up for an injured star center by scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to power host Cincinnati to a 94-67 win over NJIT on Monday night.
The Bearcats were without their leading scorer and rebounder, as Baba Miller sat out with a hip injury suffered in last Friday’s loss to Louisville. In the previous five games, Miller averaged 14.4 points and 10 rebounds.
Shon Abaev had 20 points to lead the Bearcats (5-1) and sparked a key run early in the second half with seven straight points to help separate from the visitors. Sencire Harris added 12 while Halvine Dzellat had 11 points and four rebounds for Cincinnati, which shot 49.3% from the field.
Coming off America East Rookie of the Week honors, freshman David Bolden led the Highlanders (3-4) with 16 points. Ari Fulton and Sebastian Robinson each had 10 for NJIT, which fell to 0-3 on a season-long six-game road trip.
The underdog Highlanders managed to stay close in the first half by outrebounding the Bearcats 22-18, and Cincinnati missed 13 of 19 attempts from beyond the arc. But the Bearcats took advantage of NJIT’s sloppiness all night, scoring 33 points off 20 turnovers to maintain their control of the game.
Bolden opened the second half with a 3-pointer for the Highlanders before Cincinnati went on a 12-0 run for a 54-31 lead just 3:20 into the half. Day Day Thomas punctuated the run with a triple.
Cincinnati led by as many as 33 points in the final moments.
Cincinnati shot out to an early 8-2 lead before NJIT responded with the next seven points for its only lead of the night.
The Bearcats answered with a 13-0 run to take a 21-9 lead and appeared poised to take command of the game. But NJIT’s Jeremy Clayville scored eight points in a row to cut the lead down to four.
Cincinnati closed the half on an 11-5 run for a 42-28 lead. Thiam had nine points and six rebounds to pace the Bearcats in the half.
–Field Level Media
