KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Simas Lukosius had 26 of his career-high 31 points in the second half as Cincinnati overcame a 16-point deficit to defeat West Virginia 90-85 in the first round of the Big 12 tournament Tuesday.
The Bearcats will face No. 16 Kansas, the sixth seed, in the final second-round game of the night on Wednesday.
In a rematch of Cincinnati’s 92-56 victory last Saturday, the 11th-seeded Bearcats (19-13) set a Big 12 tournament game record with 16 3-pointers on 38 attempts. Day Day Thomas also had a career-high with 29 points.
West Virginia (9-23), the No. 14 seed, had five players in double figures, led by Jesse Edwards with 17. Quinn Slazinski scored 15, RaeQuan Battle 14, Kerr Kriisa 13 and Josiah Harris 10.
Kriisa hit a 3-pointer with 13:15 left, and Josiah Harris added one with 12:25 left for West Virginia to lead 62-46. Kobe Johnson hit a short jumper to give West Virginia a 64-48 lead, but he was called for a technical foul for taunting.
Cincinnati capitalized, Lukosius’ technical free throws launching a 7-0 run to trim the deficit to single digits.
Edwards was then called for a contact technical foul with 9:24 left, his fourth foul, giving Cincinnati two shots and the ball. Lukosius hit both free throws to trim the deficit to 66-60.
With the Mountaineers leading 68-64 with 7:24 left, Battle was called for a technical after he was whistled for a foul, and the four free throws tied the score at 68-all.
Lukosius then hit a 3-pointer with 6:43 left, giving the Bearcats their first lead of the half at 71-70. But the Mountaineers weren’t done. West Virginia pulled ahead 80-75, but Cincinnati responded again, taking an 83-82 lead with 2:54 left after Thomas’ two straight 3-pointers.
Skillings’ layup with 1:24 left put Cincinnati up for good, as it ended on a 13-3 run.
There were 11 lead changes in the first half. Thomas hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to trim West Virginia’s halftime lead to 38-36.
Thomas led all scorers with 16 points in the first half, with 12 of those points coming on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. Battle led West Virginia with 12 points and Slazinski added 11.
–David Smale, Field Level Media