No. 19 Cincinnati outlasts No. 22 Dayton in Hoops Classic

CINCINNATI (AP) — Dan Skillings Jr. scored 17 points and Jizzle James added 14 as No. 19 Cincinnati ended No. 22 Dayton's five-game winning streak 66-59 on Friday night.

Simas Lukosius added 13 for the Bearcats (9-1), who have won three straight.

Malachi Smith and Nate Santos each scored 13 for the Flyers (10-3), who committed a season-high 17 turnovers. Posh Alexander and Zed Key each had 11 points for Dayton.

It was a poorly played first half. The Flyers didn't score a field goal until 8:45 remained in the half. The Bearcats went 3 of 17 from 3-point range in the half but forced 11 turnovers to build a 25-17 halftime lead.

Cincinnati started the second half 5 of 8 from 3-point range. James' four-point play gave the Bearcats a 51-35 lead with seven minutes left. Dayton cut the lead to four when Smith's 3-pointer capped a 7-0 run with 2:01 left, but the Bearcats held on.

Takeaways

Dayton: The Flyers were averaging 8.9 turnovers through 12 games. On Friday, they committed 11 by halftime, more than they had total in nine games this season.

Cincinnati: For the second straight game, the Bearcats didn't shoot particularly well but managed to win. The Bearcats shot 36% on Friday and 37.9% in a win over crosstown rival Xavier on Saturday.

Key moment

Cincinnati came in shooting 62% from the free-throw line. But with the Bearcats clinging to a four-point lead with 56 seconds left, Aziz Bandaogo made both. The Bearcats went 16 of 21 from the line overall.

Key stat

Cincinnati grabbed the first eight offensive rebounds of the game and that dominance continued leading to 18 second-chance points for the Bearcats who outrebounded the Flyers 17-10 on the offensive end.

Up next

Dayton hosts La Salle on Dec. 31, while Cincinnati hosts Grambling State on Sunday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball