Lukosius’ late 3s help Cincinnati seal Colorado’s fate with 68-62 win

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Simas Lukosius scored 16 points, Dillon Mitchell had 11 points and Cincinnati escaped the Big 12 cellar, beating Colorado 68-62 on Wednesday night.

Both teams entered the game with four-game losing streaks and were tied for the basement position in the 16-team conference.

Dan Skillings Jr. and reserve Day Day Thomas scored 10 points each and Aziz Bandaogo grabbed 10 rebounds for Cincinnati (11-5, 1-4).

Bangot Dak scored a career-high 19 points, had a career-high eight blocks, and grabbed eight rebounds for Colorado (9-7, 0-5).

After posting a 34-27 lead at halftime, Lukosius converted a three-point play 1:40 into the second half for a 39-30 advantage. Colorado then outscored the Bearcats 21-10 over the next 14 minutes and grabbed its first and lone lead of the game at 51-50 on Trevor Baskin’s layup with 4:20 left. The Buffs’ lead lasted for just 19 seconds when Thomas drove right and laid it in to put the Bearcats back up 52-51 and they led the rest of the way.

The Bearcats delivered knockout punches when Lukosius wrapped a pair of 3-pointers around a dunk from Mitchell to make it 60-53 in favor of Cincinnati with 1:46 left.

Colorado, now with a five-game losing streak, travels to Oklahoma State on Saturday. The Bearcats travel to Arizona State, also on Saturday.

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