It was a sign of things to come for the Cincinnati Bearcats when junior guard Mika Adams-Woods opened Thursday's game against the Southern Methodist Mustangs with back-to-back 3-point baskets.
That was just the beginning for UC, which shot 47 percent in the first half against SMU and stretched an already commanding halftime lead to 25 points by the 14:47 mark of the second half.
SMU simply couldn't keep up in a 77-60 win for UC at Fifth Third Arena.
Adams-Woods finished the night with a career-high 17 points and drilled the 3-ball to extend the lead to 25. He accounted for half of UC's 3-pointers in going 5-of-8 from long range.
"I've just been staying in the gym and keep working," Adams-Woods said. "And my teammates - I just want to thank them. You know, everyone, they kept finding me and shots fell."
Senior guard David DeJulius went for a game-high 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
The win marked the first victory for UC since a Dec. 21 game against Tennessee Tech. Additionally, it marked head coach Wes Miller's first American Athletic Conference win as the Bearcats improved to 11-4 and 1-1 in the league.
The victory also saw Cincinnati reverse its New Years Day loss to Tulane in which it trailed by as many as 26 points before losing, 68-60.
"Listen, I feel a lot better tonight than I did a couple nights ago against Tulane," Miller said. "I told our guys I thought our effort was better and more consistent. That was the frustrating part about the Tulane game and I thought they brought it tonight... For the most part, I thought we were significantly better in the areas that you can control and the areas that I think this team has the ability to be good.
"There were some great individual performances (for UC). I don't usually spend a lot of time talking about that but Mika Adams-Woods has a career high tonight. Really happy for him because he, since the day I got here, his work ethic on his jump shot and his game has been extremely consistent."
UC arrested an eight-game winning streak for SMU, which fell to 11-4 and 2-1 in the American. The Mustangs were led offensively by senior guard Kendric Davis' 16 points. Senior SMU guard Emmanuel Bandoumel added 13 points.
The victory was statistically decisive for UC, which controlled most measurables throughout the game, from rebounds and shooting percentage to points off turnovers, steals and assists.
The Bearcats' key run came late in the first half when a 6-0 spurt pushed its advantage to 44-27.
That margin held through the end of the first half after UC stripped the ball off Bandoumel as he attempted to bleed the game clock out for the final shot of the period.
Instead of Bandoumel getting off the final shot, the first-half buzzer sounded with UC's Jeremiah Davenport gliding over the half-court line and attempting a shot from midcourt.
Despite missing the shot, Davenport still thumped his chest before exiting the floor for halftime – an indication of his excitement and eagerness after the defensive stop.
"I did tell Jeremiah Davenport I was about as proud of him tonight as I've been all year because it wasn't his night offensively, but I thought we were much better team with him," Miller said. "Boy, I'm just privileged to be able to coach him because you wouldn't know by the way he played that it wasn't one of his better scoring nights."
Davenport finished with seven points, two offensive rebounds, four defensive boards and two steals in 29 minutes. UC was also plus-27 with Davenport on the floor – a team high.
The second half was essentially more of the same from UC, which shot better than 41 percent in the period and scored five more shots from 3-point range.
The Bearcats finished 10-of-25 from deep. UC also held SMU to 31 percent shooting on the defensive end.
"When you have the opportunity to have three days of practice, when you have a great coach like Wes Miller and get a chance to really tweaked some things that we may not have been doing or strengthen some things that we may have been doing well," DeJulius said, "one of the main things he focused on was communication, staying together on both ends of the floor and we were able to go out there an stick to the game plan tonight."
By the final minutes of the contest, Miller had reached deep into his bench to close out the victory.
UC is scheduled to return to AAC play Sunday against Memphis at FedexForum. Opening tip is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
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