TicketsBearcats Survive Scare At East Carolina
UC pulls out hard fought 84-78 triumph
Contact: Brian Teter
1/12/2005
Jason Maxiell scored 24 points to lead UC to an 84-78 win over East Carolina. |
GREENVILLE, N.C.---No. 13 Cincinnati survived a second half East Carolina comeback behind a game-high 24 points Jason Maxiell to hand the Pirates an 84-78 setback on Wednesday night in Conference USA men?s basketball action. The win extends the Bearcats? record to a perfect 3-0 in league play and 14-1 overall.
East Carolina gave the Bearcats a battle, nearly overcoming a 20-point second half deficit to fall by just six points. UC, playing in ECU?s Williams Arena for just the third time ever has now won its three contests there by an average of just 7.1 points, compared to an average margin of 21.8 in four contests played in Fifth Third Arena.
Three Bearcats joined Maxiell in double figures as Jihad Muhammad and Eric Hicks each scored 12. Nick Williams, pressed into extensive action because of Bearcat foul trouble, added 11. UC?s second leading scorer this season, Armein Kirkland, was held to just seven points, all in the first half, before fouling out with two minutes remaining.
Corey Rouse matched his career-high with 21 points for East Carolina (5-10, 0-3 C-USA). Mike Cook added 19, while Moussa Badiane had 14 and Mike Castro 10.
UC shot a solid .483 from the field for the night, the squad?s third straight contest shooting at least 45 percent. East Carolina finished the night at .460 shooting, the highest percentage by a Bearcat opponent since LaSalle shot .479 on Dec. 22.
Going into the halftime break, the Bearcats held a comfortable 46-32 lead and had extended the advantage to 20 when Hicks slammed a ball home to cap a 6-0 run and make it 57-37 with 16:42 to play. In addition to going down by 20, things took a turn for the worse during the stretch for ECU as Badiane, the Pirates second leading scorer, picked up two fouls in a 30 second span to give him four with 17 minutes left to play.
With hopes looking grim for the Pirates, Rouse suddenly led a spirited East Carolina comeback, as a 12-0 by the home team left the scoreboard showing a 57-49 Bearcat advantage with 11:41 still to play. Leading by eight, Cincinnati took its turn at a run, going on an 11-4 spurt to retake a 15-point lead at 72-57 with under eight minutes to play. Muhammad keyed the run for the Bearcats, scoring five of the 11 points.
The Bearcats looked as they might be on the verge of wrapping up the victory as Hicks drew the fifth foul on Badiane with 2:47 left. The junior then made one of two free throws to put the Bearcats up 78-68. Once again behind Rouse, East Carolina had one last run left in its tank, as a 6-0 Pirate spurt drew the home team back to 78-74. But the final run would not prove to be enough as UC converted six of eight free throws in the final minute to seal the hard fought victory.
As would be the case throughout the night, the first half saw one team make a run, only to have it matched by its counterpart. UC got the night off to a slow start, as they trailed 16-12 at the 12:58 mark of the first half. Still trailing by three a minute later, the Bearcats embarked on an 11-2 run that would give them a lead that would be challenged but not relinquished for the rest of evening.
East Carolina answered the run by scoring five straight to make it a one-point ballgame, before Cincinnati scored 11 of the next 13 to open its first double-digit advantage, 10 with 4:52 to go before the half. The balance of the first half saw the Bearcats open their lead to a first-half high of 14 on a jumper by Kirkland with two seconds left.
The first half stats showed both teams shooting well, as the Bearcats shot 55 percent to 45 percent for the Pirates. East Carolina won the first half battle of the boards (21-14), but committed 14 turnovers to just seven for UC.
The Bearcats will be back in action on Saturday when they host No. 19 Louisville in one of UC?s stiffest tests of the season. Tip-off from Fifth Third Arena is set for 1 p.m.
GAME NOTES
? With 24 points, Jason Maxiell moves past Kenyon Martin and into 19th place on UC?s career scoring list with 1,301 points. Damon Flint (1994-97) is next in line for Maxiell with 1,316 points.
? The 78 points scored by East Carolina was the most the Bearcats had ever allowed the Pirates, topping the previous high of 69 on Dec. 6, 1991.