TicketsNov. 29, 2006
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CINCINNATI, Ohio--John Williamson registered a season-high 27 points to go along with nine rebounds and University of Cincinnati survived an early scare, rallying for a 68-61 victory over Oakland.
One game after the Bearcats yielded 29 turnovers, they reduced the total to just 12 en route to the seven-point win.
"We were able to win a game where we didn't make a three in the second half," head coach Mick Cronin said. "Our execution improved greatly; our turnovers went down."
Jamual Warren contributed 12 points in 34 minutes of action. After coming off the bench in each of the last two games, Warren was thrust back into the starting lineup and he made good on 6-of-12 field goal tries.
Oakland controlled the first half of play. After taking an early 10-4 lead with 16:54 reading on the first half clock, Cincinnati found itself trailing by five with 9:15 left in the period after Vova Severovas' lay-in made it 19-14.
Rick Billings hit the first basket of the second half to stretch the Grizzlies' lead to six, at 35-29. The Bearcats went on a 7-0 run to take a 36-35 lead after Warren's layup with 17:11 remaining.
The Grizzlies carried a 33-29 edge at the intermission.
Just as UC seemed to be adding breathing room, Brandon Cassise hit a 3-pointer for Oakland to cut the lead to one point, at 50-49 with 7:45 remaining. Vaughn and Williamson combined to score nine straight points for Cincinnati and the lead jumped to 58-50 with 3:05 remaining.
Free throws by Vaughn, Cedric McGowan and Marcus Sikes sealed UC's fifth win in six tries in Cronin's first season.
"We were able to win a game where we missed our last 11 3-point shots," Cronin stated. "That's a credit to the way played defense, they attacked our shooters and attacked them hard."
Oakland's hardnosed defense forced Cincinnati to misfire on its final 11 3-point attempts of the night. UC connected on 2-of-13 long-range opportunities on the night.
The reigning BIG EAST Rookie of the Week, Vaughn finished with 17 points, seven caroms and six assists.
Oakland big man Shawn Hopes tallied 13 points to lead the Grizzlies. After scoring nine points in the first half, Oakland's Johnathan Jones was held to five in the second stanza, finishing with 14 on 5-of-12 shooting.