Cincinnati Basketball: Landers Nolley II takes over as Bearcats escape Temple in overtime
By Charles Post
Bearcats senior forward Landers Nolley II helped take down Temple on Wednesday night, scoring a team-high 20 points including 4/4 shooting from the field in overtime to secure an 88-83 win.
After missing a potential game-winning shot in the final seconds of regulation, Nolley scored six straight points to begin overtime and eventually led Cincinnati to a crucial win over the Owls.
In between regulation and overtime, Nolley got into a verbal altercation with Temple sophomore guard Damian Dunn and that energized the Bearcats senior to take over down the stretch.
David DeJulius scored 20 points and seven assists, while Daniel Skillings Jr racked up a career-high 15 points on 6/8 shooting from the field including a steal and dunk in the second half.
Cincinnati Basketball: Landers Nolley II takes over as Bearcats escape Temple in overtime
Following the last-second victory against Temple, the Bearcats moved into sole possession of fourth place in the conference standings with only two games remaining in the regular season.
In his first appearance since suffering a sprained ankle at Tulane, Viktor Lakhin returned to the starting lineup and finished with 10 points, three rebounds and two blocks in the overtime win.
Cincinnati will try to keep the momentum going at Memphis on Sunday afternoon. During a postgame press conference, Nolley discussed the win over Temple per Bearcats Athletics.
"“We had a little one on one altercation so that just kind of sparked my fire. Then from there, the rest is history. Me being me and knowing what I’m capable of, and my teammates just supporting me, especially after I hit the first one. After missing the one in regulation, I couldn’t let them down in overtime too. In this situation, it was kind of different. The guys on the team trust me with the ball in my hands and so does the coaching staff. From here on out, winning any game is crucial for us so we can’t have any slip ups.”"