Cincinnati Basketball: Bearcats defeat Eastern Washington 85-73 in Viktor Lakhin’s career day

Cincinnati Bearcats earned an 85-73 win over the Eastern Washington Eagles fueled by center Viktor Lakhin’s career-high 26 points on Sunday afternoon.

Lakhin took over after halftime by draining a pair of 3-pointers and scoring 18 points in the second half on his way to totaling 11 rebounds during the win.

The Bearcats got a lot of help off the bench with 35 points from the reserves as forward Simas Lukosius added 11 points, four assists and two rebounds.

Wes Miller’s team had five other players post double figures including freshman Jizzle James, who seemed even more comfortable than in previous games.

Cincinnati Basketball: Bearcats earn 85-73 win against Eastern Washington

Cincinnati couldn’t find open looks from outside at a consistent rate in the opening half, shooting only six 3-point attempts but still making four of them.

Despite the shooting and spacing struggles, James shot a perfect 3/3 in the first half as the Bearcats had a 38-30 lead heading into the locker room.

Following a great start to the season that included seven triples in the first two games, Cincinnati guard CJ Fredrick went just 0/1 from beyond the arc today.

Cincinnati Basketball: Wes Miller speaks on the Bearcats 85-73 win in press conference

Cincinnati now gets a week to rest before taking on the Northern Kentucky Norse on Sunday, November 19th at 2:00 PM inside of Fifth Third Arena.

Miller reacted to the Bearcats win against Eastern Washington and reflected on Lakhin’s performance in a press conference per Cincinnati Athletics.

"“Viktor had a really good offseason. He’s really improved and we’ve got to see that in practice. I’m glad everybody saw it today. I was pleased with the performance. I thought Jizzle gave us some meaningful minutes. There were times in the first two games when I said I don’t want to play him for the experience. I want to play him because he helps our team. I am pleased that today he helped our team. He helped our team win today and it was really good to see that.”"