UC Basketball Stars Of The Game: Four Double-Digit scorers Will Bearcats To Huge 88-83 Win Over Temple

Two 20-point scorers and clutch shooting give Bearcats important late-season win.

Author:
Alex Frank
Feb 23, 2023 6:55 AM EST

In this story:

CINCINNATI — It was exactly the kind of game people anticipated.

Two teams, both 9-6 in AAC play, battling, grinding, and leaving everything out there in an 88-83 UC win over Temple. If this is a preview of a potential 4/5 seed matchup in the AAC Tournament, hopefully, the sequel is as good as Wednesday night's game was.

The physicality was immense. The intensity was off the charts, just like a late-February game should be. The stars on both teams came out, with Cincinnati's David DeJulius willing the Bearcats in multiple ways and Temple's Damian Dunn (34 points) doing everything he could to help his team that was playing without their leading scorer.

Cincinnati did just a little more to pull out a much-needed overtime win. The win puts Cincinnati in the driver's seat for the four-seed in the AAC Tournament with a chance to still run down Memphis for the three-seed.

Here are tonight's stars of the game.

1. David DeJulius - You know who DeJulius has looked like lately? Jarron Cumberland. He is willing this Bearcats team to victory, and tonight was the latest example of that. The fifth-year senior scratched and clawed his way to 20 points, including 9-of-9 from the free-throw line.

2. Dan Skillings Jr. - To quote Jon Rothstein, you should have bought stock in Skillings a long time ago. Skillings' effort off the bench was tremendous in going 6-of-8 shooting to a career-high 15 points, including 3-of-4 from three-point range. Skillings Jr. also had a steal in 15 minutes.

3. Landers Nolley II - In overtime, Nolley took over the game for the Bearcats. After missing the game-winner at the end of regulation, Nolley made all four of his shots for the Bearcats in overtime to help the Bearcats play from ahead the entire extra five minutes. He's been, arguably, this team's best player all season, and he was clutch in the biggest five minutes of the Bearcats' season.

4. Viktor Lahkin - Making his first start and appearance since suffering an ankle injury on Feb. 7, the Bearcats leading big man was crucial in helping the Bearcats fend off a feisty Temple team. Lahkin finished with 10 points on 3/5 shooting. He also pulled down 3 rebounds and blocked 2 shots before fouling out with 2:58 left in the second half.

Cincinnati now prepares for a huge game against Memphis on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. It's available on fuboTV—start your free trial here.

Make sure you bookmark All Bearcats for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.

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