CINCINNATI — Junior Farad Cobb erupted for a game-high 24 points on 6-of-9 from three-point range in his second career Division I game, and the Cincinnati men’s basketball team recorded a 69-61 victory over Morehead State on Wednesday evening at Fifth Third Arena.
The American Athletic Conference Bearcats open the season with their second straight home win. The Ohio Valley Conference Eagles slip to 1-2 on the campaign and 0-2 on the road. Cincinnati also moves to 11-2 in the series with its seventh consecutive victory over MSU.
“Give Cincinnati credit,” Head Coach Sean Woods said. “They are long and athletic, which presents challenges for any opponent. We didn’t execute in some situations tonight, but this loss is not due to a lack of effort. I thought we battled at UNLV, and we battled again tonight.”
Cobb, a junior college transfer, did not score in his D-I debut. He connected on 8-of-14 overall and drilled two-thirds of UC’s long balls. Junior Octavis Ellis added 16 points on 10-of-13 from the foul line, while sophomore Troy Caupain added 13 on 8-of-11 from the same spot.
The contest featured several scoring runs. Cincinnati registered a 15-0 surge in the first half, thanks to continuous free-throw attempts. Morehead State answered with a 13-0 burst to end the first half and begin the second. UC’s 14-3 second-half run then put the game out of reach.
“I’m not a patient person, but it’s going to take us time to get completely acclimated,” Woods said. “We have several new players, who are learning how we do things, and we have a handful of guys who are coming back from injuries. We will continue to work hard and get better.”
Cincinnati led for more than 32 minutes, but its largest advantage was only 13 points late in the first half. Morehead State had a two-point cushion 10 minutes in and tied the contest on multiple occasions after intermission. There were six ties and four lead changes overall.
Cincinnati was +10 in made free throws and +18 in charity-stripe attempts. Morehead State was whistled for 27 fouls on the night, including six by the first media timeout, while the Bearcats committed 20. Cobb’s big night led to a 33-11 upper hand in bench points for UC.
“Cobb had a great night, but he’s the only Cincinnati player who made more than three shots,” Woods said. “I thought we defended pretty well, but it’s hard to win on the road when the opponent shoots 34 free throws. When you look at the stat sheet, that was the difference tonight.”
Junior Brent Arrington paced three Eagles in double figures with 21 points on 8-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-6 from long distance. Senior Angelo Warner added 14 points and six rebounds for MSU, while senior Kareem Storey contributed 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Morehead State continues its stretch of five games in seven days on Friday at Conference USA opponent Louisiana Tech. Tip-off is set 8 p.m. ET. The Eagles will also face Presbyterian on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. and American on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the weekend affair.
“This is a busy week for us, and we have an opportunity to win three more games,” Woods added. “We will travel tomorrow (Thursday), and get ready for our upcoming opponents. We have to take them one at a time, and we know Louisiana Tech will be good on its home floor.”
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