TicketsFeb. 23, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio - The highest-ranked team to ever come into Fifth Third Arena left with its 11-game winning streak intact, but barely. Dante Cunningham made a lay-up with 3.2 seconds left to lift No. 2 Villanova to a 74-72 win over Cincinnati in front of a sell-out crowd on Thursday night.
UC (18-10, 7-7 BIG EAST) held the Wildcats without a field goal for the 7:52 prior to the winning shot as the Bearcats fought back from a 12-point deficit to eventually take the lead. The comeback was led by senior Eric Hicks, who scored 16 of UC's final 24 points.
After a Devan Downey three-pointer, Hicks had a three-point play to close the margin to six, 68-62, with six minutes left. Chadd Moore's fourth three-pointer of the game cut the lead to one two minutes later and with 2:44 to go Hicks went to the free throw line with a chance to the tie the game.
He made one, but got another chance a minute later and made both to even the game at 70-70. He then snagged his ninth rebound of the game on a Downey miss and put it back in with 1:09 left to give the Bearcats their first lead since three minutes into the game.
The lead was short-lived as Randy Foye drove the lane 15 seconds later and was fouled. He made both shots from the charity stripe to tie the score again. On UC's next possession Downey was called for a charge with 34 seconds left attempting the go-ahead shot.
VU (22-2, 12-1 BIG EAST) ran the clock under 10 seconds before Foye took the ball to the hoop, but Downey forced a held ball with less than four seconds left. Unfortunately the possession arrow belonged to the Wildcats and Allan Ray found a cutting Cunningham wide open underneath for the winning score.
"I am disappointed," said head coach Andy Kennedy. "I felt like we had an opportunity. In life when you get an opportunity, you need to take advantage of it. I am disappointed for our kids, not in our kids."
The loss was UC's 14th-straight against a ranked team. The Bearcats are next in action on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Seton Hall at 8 p.m. in a game to be televised on WXIX.
Hicks led the Bearcats with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and nine rebounds. He also had four blocks to close within nine of Kenyon Martin's single-season record of 107. Moore scored a season-high 14 points, making 4-of-5 triples and grabbing five rebounds.
"He was good down the stretch," said Kennedy. "He made some tremendous plays for us on both ends of the floor."
Jihad Muhammad added 12 points and five assists and Downey was the fourth Bearcat in double-figures with 13 points.
Foye carried the Wildcats for the most of the second half and finished with 25 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, leading the VU four-guard lineup to a 42-37 edge in rebounds. Ray had 19 points and seven rebounds with five three-pointers, but did not score in the final 18:47 of the game.
UC shot just .362 from the field for the game, but owned a 23 to 11 advantage in free throws made and was good on 7-of-16 three-point attempts. VU shot .409 for the game, but was held to .353 shooting in the second half and just 3-of-10 three-pointers in the stanza.
It was the Villanova defense that set the tone early until its offense caught up. The Bearcats scored six points in the first three minutes to take a 6-5 lead on a James White three-pointer, but hit only one more field goal in the next nine minutes. UC made just three of its first 17 field goal attempts in the first 12 minutes of the game.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, responded to the 6-5 deficit by making seven if their next eight shots, including two three-pointers and a jumper by Ray to help VU to a 22-11 lead nine minutes in.
The Bearcat guards finally got UC untracked, as Downey and Muhammad each made a pair of free throws sandwiched around a Muhammad jumper to close to 24-19 with 7:23 to play in the half.
Ray responded with another triple, but Moore hit two of his own in less than a minute to keep the Bearcats close. VU went up 38-27 with 3:45 to go, but was limited to a pair of free throws for the rest of the half.
For UC, Domonic Tilford hit the Bearcats' fifth three-pointer of the half and Hicks and Downey scored to produce a 40-34 halftime score.
UC recovered from its start to shoot .346 from the floor, including 5-of-8 from three and 11-of-12 from the line. The Wildcats, meanwhile, hit .469 of their shots and was 6-of-13 from behind the arc, led by Ray's 3-of-7. He finished the half with a game-high 13 points and Foye had 12 and six rebounds.
Downey and Muhammad each had eight points and three assists for UC and Hicks grabbed five rebounds.
Muhammad scored two baskets in the first minute of the second half for the Bearcats, but each one was answered by a Ray three-pointer to up the lead to eight.
The teams literally traded scored for the first seven minutes in the half, until Hicks scored six-straight points to cut the Wildcat lead to 57-54 with 12:03 to play in the game.
Foye responded for VU with seven points in an 11-2 run to give VU a 68-56 lead with 7:55 left.