CINCINNATI — The Bearcats are beginning to exert their will.
Dan Skillings Jr. scored a team-high 17 points while Jizzle James added 14 to lead the No. 19 Cincinnati Bearcats past the 22nd-ranked Dayton Flyers, 66-59, Friday night in Cincinnati.
In his third game back from minor knee surgery, Skillings looked more comfortable assuming a scoring role for Cincinnati (9-1) while James rebounded nicely from an 0-for-11 performance against crosstown rival Xavier six days earlier by going 5-of-9 from the field, with three rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
Simas Lukosius added 13 for Cincinnati despite shooting just 4-of-17 from the field.
Nate Santos and Malachi Smith led Dayton (10-3) with 13 points apiece, while Zed Key and Posh Alexander each had 11. Cincinnati avenged its 82-68 loss to Dayton on the same court in the same building a year earlier. The Bearcats now lead the series 61-32.
Dayton showed the effects of playing its third game in six days. After rallying from 13 down to beat No. 6 Marquette last Saturday at home and narrowly escaping unranked UNLV by a point on Tuesday, Dayton could never get any momentum going against its longtime rival 35 miles to the south.
The Flyers opened the game ice-cold from the field, missing their first 11 shots before Santos put back a missed layup by Key with 8:45 remaining in the first half. Dayton’s only points came via the free throw line in the first 11 minutes.
“I’m proud of the win and our kids. We defended our tails off, especially in the first half,” Bearcats coach Wes Miller said. “We set a tone defensively, and our kids were completely focused and locked in on the scout, forcing deflections and turnovers. We hit the boards too. We had good some moments offensively early in the game with good shots and getting to the board.”
Cincinnati’s biggest statement came on the offensive glass with 17 offensive rebounds.
“There was a stretch in the first half where their pressure probably affected us into not getting good shots,” Miller said. “I thought we weathered the storm a little bit, and it eventually opened back up. We’re coming on offense. We are starting to have stretches tonight where the offense got better.”
Cincinnati wasn’t much better, missing their first six shots until a Skillings jumper two minutes in. The Bearcats used the cold spell to build leads of 16-4 and 21-8 on a Simas Lukosius three with 6:08 left in the half. Dayton answered with the next six points to narrow the deficit to seven.
In addition to the poor perimeter shooting, Dayton was very sloppy with the ball, committing 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, leading to 11 Cincinnati points.
While Dayton missed all seven threes in the first half, Cincinnati missed twice as many, converting just 3-of-17 attempts from beyond the arc to allow Dayton to stay within eight, 25-17, at the half.
The Bearcats opened the lead up to 14 several times in the opening 10 minutes of the second half and then expanded their lead to 18, 53-35, on a James three with 7:36 left in the game.
Leading 55-38 with just under seven minutes left, Cincinnati missed seven straight shots from the field to open the door for Dayton. Malachi Smith drained two free throws with 2:36 remaining to draw Dayton within seven before Smith rattled home a three off a loose-ball rebound.
With a chance to draw to within two, Santos missed a reverse layup with 1:22 remaining, allowing Cincinnati to put the game away.
