TicketsBearcats Win Third-Straight, Outmuscle Marquette 80-68
Contact: Brian Teter
2/24/2005
Nick Williams' dunk with two minutes left gave UC an 18-point lead. photo by Mark Bealer |
CINCINNATI, Ohio ? Cincinnati?s defense and inside play was again the story as the Bearcats notched their third-straight win, knocking off Marquette, 80-68, in front of a sold out Fifth Third Arena on Thursday night.
Eric Hicks led UC with 17 points and nine rebounds, while Jason Maxiell recorded his 20th career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Nick Williams added 16 for the Bearcats, who moved into a tie for third-place in the league with a 9-4 record, 21-6 overall.
With the ninth win in the league, UC becomes the only team to post at least nine wins in every year of Conference USA?s 10-year history.
Marquette (18-9, 6-8) was held to .368 shooting, the 18th time this year UC has held an opponent under .400 shooting. MU did hold a 45-36 advantage on the boards and had 23 offensive turnovers, but UC made 24-of-30 free throws to Marquette?s 8-of-16.
Steve Novak led the Golden Eagles with a game-high 25 points with seven three-pointers.
The Bearcat offense started hot, making four of its first five shots, including three-pointers by three different players, to jump out to a 13-4 lead just over four minutes in.
A minute later Williams hit his second triple to make it a 10-point lead. After Marquette scored five-straight points to close to 16-11 Williams drained a third trey to push it back to an eight-point advantage with 11:35 to go.
Freshman Ryan Patzwald got into the act with a three of his own that ignited an 8-0 Bearcat run. The walk-on ended the run with a 16-foot jumper that gave UC a 31-16 lead at the 4:14 mark.
The UC defense, which leads the nation allowing just .368 shooting by its opponents, held Marquette without a field goal for eight minutes during that span.
Hicks scored the last five points of the half to give UC a 38-21 lead at intermission. It was the 12th time this year that the Bearcats allowed fewer than 25 points in a half.
Marquette, playing without C-USA?s leading scorer Travis Diener who is out for the year with a broken hand, struggled on offense all half, shooting just .276 (8-of-29) from the field and 2-of-10 from behind the arc. The Bearcats, meanwhile, made 6-of-11 triples and shot 50 percent from the field overall.
11 of Marquette?s 21 points were of the second-chance variety, as the Golden Eagles posted just two assists on their eight baskets. The Bearcats, led by Jamaal Lucas? four, carded 11 assists on 14 baskets.
?We guarded and we were very unselfish,? said head coach Bob Huggins. ?When we passed the ball, we shot 50 percent. When we didn?t pass the ball (in the second half), we shot 37 percent.?
Hicks and Williams each had nine points to lead UC and Armein Kirkland grabbed six rebounds. Novak led MU with 10 points.
The Bearcat outside game cooled off in the second half, but the tandem of Hicks and Maxiell more than made up for it. The powerful duo scored UC?s first 10 points after the break and 16 of the first 21, maintaining the 18-point lead over the first five minutes.
Then the slumping Jihad Muhammad got hot, making a short jumper and then draining a three-pointer in an 8-0 run that put the Bearcats up, 55-30, with 9:47 to go as MU went 6:30 without a field goal.
After another Muhammad triple gave UC its largest lead at 64-36 the Golden Eagles scored the next 15 points to close to 64-51 with 3:26 to go. Dameon Mason had five points and Novak hit two treys in the run.
Erick Murray ended the run with a pair of free throws and Williams closed the door with a soaring slam dunk for a three-point play to push the lead back to 18 with 2:39 to go.
Marquette let loose with a barrage of three-pointers in the final two minutes, hitting four of them and getting as close as 74-67 with 34 seconds left. UC made 11-of-12 free throws in the final two minutes, however, to keep the lead.
The Bearcats continue their quest for a bye in the upcoming Conference USA Tournament when they travel to take on TCU on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 3:00 p.m. ET.