The Cincinnati men's basketball team used a 15-0 first-half run to blow past Tulsa, 81-55, on Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena.

Led by 20 points off the bench from senior wing Jeremiah Davenport and a 13-point, career-high 13-rebound effort from senior guard Landers Nolley II, the Bearcats had five players reach double figures and improved to 15-8 and 6-4 in the American Athletic Conference.

Senior Mika Adams-Woods (10 points), redshirt post Viktor Lakhin (10) and senior guard David DeJulius (11) also scored 10 or more points.

The Bearcats held a commanding 44-32 edge on the glass, and DeJulius added a game-high nine assists.

Both teams struggled to make shots early during a back-and-forth first 10 minutes that featured eight lead changes until the Bearcats' shots started falling and their defense tightened even more.

A Nolley II jumper sparked the game-breaking 15-0 run for the Bearcats as Tulsa missed 12 consecutive shots over an eight-minute stretch heading into halftime.

After Nolley's shot gave UC a 15-14 lead at 9:09, freshman wing Daniel Skillings converted a bucket on the block and Davenport swished a pair of free throws before Nolley and Skillings both hit 3s.

When the dust settled after a Lakhin tip slam and a Davenport trey, Cincinnati led 29-14.

Davenport added another seven quick points at the end of the first half on a free throw and two 3s, as UC took a 36-18 lead into halftime.

Cincinnati held Tulsa to just 21% shooting before the break.

After halftime, Cincinnati continued its hot shooting with Nolley II and Davenport both burying 3-pointers and senior forward Ody Oguama rattling the rim with an emphatic dunk that extended Cincinnati's lead to 54-37 with 12:33 left in the game.

Adams-Woods gave Cincinnati a 21-point lead on a 3-pointer with 9:14 left in the game.

Davenport added a late 3-pointer and an and-one layup off a nifty pass from DeJulius to make the score 75-52 with 3:20 left.

Senior forward Kalu Ezikpe put an exclamation point on the game with a slam for the final points after a steal from walk-on guard Chase Kirkwood in the final minute.

FROM WES MILLER
"It's so interesting. He is so gifted and we coached against him last year, so we already knew that. The things he can do as a basketball player are so untapped. With regards to the rebounds, this is something we have seen over the last couple of weeks. I'll be honest, the first couple weeks of preseason practice, his habit of getting back and his transition defense was so bad. I told him that you're not even crashing the offensive board. You have to go to the circle, to the half court on the shot because I was so worried he couldn't get back and get our defense set. He picked this up very quickly. After watching him pick this up quickly, I was sitting here thinking that he could be an elite rebounder. Every time I get on him about something he listens and he works at it and then he can go do it very well. It's pretty fun to coach somebody when you can get on him and he can do it. We got on his behind about rebounding and the next thing you know, he's a double-double guy. Landers' ability as a player, we haven't seen anything yet. There is so much more in there. I believe he is capable of being one of the best players in the world. I think he is that gifted. It's very cool to see his improvement and there is a lot of room to grow."

UP NEXT
Cincinnati hosts UCF on Saturday at noon on ESPNU.