TicketsBearcats Fall To Wake Forest, 74-70
UC now 15-3 on the year
Contact: Brian Teter
1/22/2005
Eric Hicks had 18 points vs. Wake Forest. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Wake Forest?s Eric Williams scored a career-high 29 points to lead the third-ranked Demon Deacons past Cincinnati, 74-70 on Saturday afternoon at a sold out Fifth Third Arena.
Wake Forest shot a blistering 54 percent from the field in the first half then held off a late Bearcat surge to drop Cincinnati to 15-3 on the year and hand UC its second home loss in its last three contests. Wake Forest?s Chris Paul added 21 points, while handing out a team-high seven assists to help improve the Deacon?s record to 16-2.
UC got 18 points from Eric Hicks, but the 6-6 junior from Greensboro, N.C. was held to just two points in the second 20 minutes of play. Armein Kirkland came off the bench to score all 14 of his points after the break, while also adding a career-best eight assists. Jihad Muhammad, who played a season-low 17 minutes because of foul trouble, added 10.
?We had a chance to win, we didn?t win,? UC head coach Bob Huggins stated. ?They played well, they shot the ball extremely well. Everytime we gave them an open look, they knocked it down. We could have packed it in several times, but we didn?t. We just didn?t get enough of them in the basket. From an effort standpoint, we never quit. We kept battling back. We had opportunities, we just weren?t quite good enough.?
Wake Forest looked as if they might turn the game into a runaway early, as they scored the game?s first eight points and took a 10-point lead on a Paul triple with 13:47 left in the first half. Cincinnati started to charge back with a 12-3 run that brought the Bearcats within 19-16, but Paul responded with another three.
The Bearcats fell behind by as much as six on a couple of occasions, the last coming at 37-31 with 3:31 left in the half. Hicks started to bring the home team back with four straight points and a Roy Bright three from the corner with 51 seconds remaining closed the Wake lead to 39-38 at the break.
The first half stats showed a decisive shooting edge for Wake, as they shot .538 to .387 for the Bearcats. The rebounds were nearly even, with the visitors holding a slim 17-16 advantage. Williams had started his scoring spree already, accounting for 16 first half points, while Paul had 14. Hicks was the only UC player in double figures at the break with 16.
Half number two started much like the first as two quick scores by Williams pushed the Deacons ahead by five. Muhammad answered with a three, before Wake Forest embarked on a 15-6 run that pushed the visitor?s advantage back to double digits at 58-47 with 12:37 still to play. Cincinnati got back to within four on a Chadd Moore lay-up, but Wake had extended its lead to 70-64 when Paul hit his fifth three of the day with just over three and a half minutes remaining.
But from there, the Bearcat defense clamped down, allowing only four Demon Deacon free throws over the balance of the contest. Kirkland and James White hit two free throws each to bring the Bearcats to within two, but Maxiell missed a turn around jump shot with 10 seconds left that would have tied the game. UC was forced to foul and Jamaal Levy, just a 46 percent free throw shooter, knocked down both to put Wake back up four.
On the other end, Muhammad drove for a lay-up that made it 72-70, but once again forced to foul, the Bearcats watched Taron Downey bury two charity tosses with 2.8 seconds left to ice the win for Wake Forest.
?I thought it was certainly a good win for Wake Forest and a tough loss for Cincinnati,? said Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser. ?As our kids were made aware in practice, you don?t win without guarding. We held Cincinnati to 40 percent (shooting) and managed to keep them off the boards.?
UC ended the day shooting 40 percent from the field, but watched Wake Forest shoot .466 from the floor, good for the third-highest mark against the Bearcats this season. WFU won the rebounding battle by a slim 36-35 count, behind seven from Levy. Maxiell grabbed a game-high nine boards for the Bearcats, while Kirkland complimented his 14-point, eight-assist performance, with seven rebounds.
The Bearcats are next in action when they return to Conference USA action on Thursday (Jan. 27) at USF. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. UC is back at home two days later when they entertain Houston at 7 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena.