Cincinnati Basketball: Bearcats take down Detroit Mercy 93-61 behind six double digit scorers
After opening the regular season with a recent win, the Cincinnati Bearcats moved to 2-0 with a 93-61 victory over the Detroit Mercy Titans on Friday night!
Cincinnati had six players hit double figures including CJ Fredrick, John Newman III and Jizzle James leading the way with a combined 40 points and 11 rebounds.
Everything seemed to go in for Wes Miller’s team in the first half, shooting 13/21 from 3-point range as Fredrick and Newman each made three triples.
The Bearcats led 60-27 at halftime after ending the first half on a 12-0 scoring run before Detroit Mercy outscored Cincinnati by one point in the second half.
Cincinnati Basketball: Bearcats take down Detroit Mercy 93-61 behind hot shooting
Bearcats sophomore forward Dan Skillings Jr joined the 3-point party in the second half as well en route to scoring 11 points and eight boards off the bench.
Fredrick led the way with a team-best 14 points on 4/5 shooting from outside in just 19 minutes, going a perfect 3/3 from 3-point range in the first half.
Miller was not thrilled with the performance in the second half but he did enjoy the rebounding efforts of Newman and sophomore forward Josh Reed.
Newman finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Reed racked up five points and a team-high 12 rebounds in the home victory.
Cincinnati Basketball: Wes Miller speaks on win over Detroit Mercy in press conference
Cincinnati is set to return to the court against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Sunday afternoon inside of Fifth Third Arena before getting a week off.
In the postgame press conference, Miller reacted to the win and explained why he was frustrated with the second half performance per Bearcats Athletics.
"“I was pretty pissed off in the second half and thought I was gonna have an aneurysm. Mike Davis is a hell of a coach. I mean he coached in the national championship game. It’s going to take him a little bit to get there so I have all the respect for him. We were just more physically gifted and skilled tonight, and when we played the right way for a little bit, it looked good.”"