TicketsJan. 7, 2007
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Cincinnati opened its BIG EAST season with a 54-42 loss to Rutgers on Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats shot just 34.7 percent from the field as they dropped their third-straight game.
Rutgers (8-7, 1-1 BIG EAST) used 16-2 run early in the second half to break open what had been a one-point game at halftime. Adrian Hill, Jaron Griffin and Marquis Webb each had 13 points to lead RU.
Marcus Sikes led all scorers with 17 points for UC (9-5, 0-1 BIG EAST). He was 7-of-9 from the field and 3-of-5 from behind the arc. The rest of the team was 10-of-40 from the field and 1-of-16 from three.
Sikes and John Williamson each had six rebounds. Jamual Warren recorded seven points, six assists and five rebounds.
The Bearcats set season lows for points, field goals (17) and free throw attempts (six). The 42 points was the fewest scored since a 40-38 win over UAB on Jan. 9, 1994.
The first half looked much like what you would expect a game between two struggling offenses to look like. Rutgers, which entered as the worst shooting team in the BIG EAST, shot just .308 from the field, while UC, ranked 14th in the league, made .348 of its shots.
As a matter of fact, just two players scored the first 15 points for the Scarlet Knights. Griffin netted the first six points for RU and Webb had the next nine.
After Sikes gave the Bearcats a 5-0 lead on a three-pointer, Griffin quickly netted a trey of his own and then made a steal and dunk to tie the game just over three minutes in.
Marvin Gentry netted the second of UC's two first-half triples to give the Bearcats a 10-6 advantage five minutes in, but UC went almost six minutes without another field goal. Webb made a pair of treys in this time for a 12-10 RU lead.
After two baskets by UC reclaimed the lead, Webb made his third triple for a 15-14 Scarlet Knights lead with 6:42 to play.
Warren found Cedric McGowan for a long alley-oop dunk that capped a 4-0 run and gave the Bearcats an 18-15 edge with 4:18 on the clock, but Rutgers scored the next six points to claim its largest lead, 21-18, with :48 seconds left.
UC ended the half on a high note as Sikes drained a 16-foot jumper with 20 seconds left make the halftime score 21-20 Rutgers.
Sikes led the Bearcats with five points in the first half and McGowan and Warren added four points each. UC made just 2-of-12 three-pointers in the half and committed eight turnovers.
Webb's nine points led the Scarlet Knights and Griffin added eight. UC owned a 16-15 edge on the boards.
Still down by one, 24-23, with 17:32 remaining in the game, the Bearcats missed nine of their next 10 shots. This allowed Rutgers to go on a 16-2 run over the next nine minutes. Six different players scored in the run as RU built a 40-25 lead with 8:18 left.
Sikes scored six of UC's first 11 points of the half as the Bearcats tried to solve the Scarlet Knight's zone. RU was able to answer the UC scores, however, and it pushed the edge to 16, 47-31, on a JR Inman three-pointer and Anthony Farmer driving lay-in with 4:50 left.
From there Rutgers lived at the free throw line, scoring its final seven points there to hold off the Bearcats.
UC faces the next two BIG EAST contests on the road, starting at USF on Sunday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m.