After struggling to find their offense against Ohio State on Tuesday, David DeJulius, Landers Nolley II and the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team found it on Wednesday night.
DeJulius tied a career high with 26 points, Nolley added 21 and the Bearcats pulled away from Louisville 81-62 on the final day of the Maui Invitational at the Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii.
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"Coming in here, we didn't feel like we played well or handled the environment well," UC coach Wes Miller said. "So we've been down in the dumps a little bit. But our guys have stuck with it. I was really proud of how they handled today. It wasn't easy early. It could've been a little frustrating early. But we just kind of stayed together and stuck with it. It was good to kind of see it happen for us in the second half."
The victory snapped Cincinnati's three-game losing streak and secured the Bearcats (4-3) a seventh-place finish in the eight-team tournament.
"Going into it, it was just about making sure that we don't let this week define us either way," Miller said. "It's November still. ... We're gonna be a good team. We have to be a consistent defensive team."
Cincinnati returns home Wednesday to host the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
After scoring 10 points through the first two games of the tournament, DeJulius led all scorers with 13 points in the first half. The 6-foot graduate guard banked in a half-court 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Bearcats a 31-30 lead at the break.
DeJulius' long-range jumper capped a first half that saw five ties and 16 lead changes in the 100th meeting between the two programs, the first since 2014 (58-57 Louisville win at Fifth Third Arena).
"It's a quick turnaround, so you don't really have much time to sit and sulk about a loss or how you played," said DeJulius, who scored just one point on 0-for-5 shooting in an 81-53 loss to Ohio State on Tuesday.
DeJulius opened the second half with another 3-pointer, his fourth of the night. Viktor Lakhin then dunked home a pass by Mika Adams-Woods and the Bearcats seized a 36-30 lead, the largest for either team at that point.
Louisville (0-6), led by Brandon Huntley-Hatfield's 15 points, countered by knocking down its first 3 of the game. The Cardinals shot 0-for-6 from deep in the first half and finished 3-for-13.
Cincinnati finally started to create some space after Nolley sank a 3 from the wing to make it 43-35 with 14:45 to play. The Bearcats surged to a 12-point lead after a step-back jumper by DeJulius and a fast-break dunk by Lakhin fueled a 9-0 run. Lakhin then picked up a steal and raced to the other end for another dunk to make it a 51-38 game with 12:40 remaining.
The Cardinals committed six turnovers in the first eight minutes of the second period.
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After the Bearcats grabbed a 63-45 lead at the 8:29 mark, Louisville rallied to make it a 67-57 game with 4:54 left. Lakhin then fouled out with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
But DeJulius and Nolley drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to put Cincinnati ahead by 16 and seal the victory. DeJulius finished with a career-high six 3s (6-of-14 from 3-point range).
"It was a collective effort, and when you have a team that plays collectively like that, it allows guys like me, our jobs to be a lot easier," DeJulius said.
The Bearcats owned a 29-4 advantage in fast-break points.
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