TicketsJan. 11, 2014
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 51 RUTGERS |
Final Stats | Notes | Quotes | Photo Gallery 1 Cincinnati, Ohio • Fifth Third Arena |  71 CINCINNATI | ||||||||||||
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CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati men's basketball team held visiting Rutgers without a field goal for the final 11:45 of the game and ran away with a 71-51 American Athletic Conference win, Saturday in front of 10,872 inside Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats (15-2, 4-0 American) gave head coach Mick Cronin his 150th win at the school and were a season best 31-of-40 (.775) from the free-throw line. UC's defense held Rutgers (7-9, 1-2 American) to a 19-of-56 (.339) shooting night, including a 23.1 percent (6-of-26) effort in the second half.
UC has won 14 straight games inside Fifth Third and eight straight games overall. The Bearcats are 4-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2003-04 season. The Bearcats have held their last 24 foes under 70 points, the longest active streak in the nation.
A thunderous dunk by Shaquille Thomas (Paterson, N.J./NIA Prep School) with 47 seconds left put a cap on a great second-half effort by the Bearcats. UC outscored the Scarlet Knights 37-19 despite going 7:07 in the half without a field goal.
The defensive pressure was on for the Bearcats as Rutgers missed its final 12 shots from the field and did not score a point over a span of 4:38 that saw UC increase its lead to 15, 64-49 with 3:04 remaining.
Sean Kilpatrick (Yonkers, N.Y./Notre Dame Prep) led the way with 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Troy Caupain (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) added 14 points, 10 of which came during a second-half run that helped UC put the game away.
Thomas and Justin Jackson (Cocoa Beach, Fla./Arlington Country Day) both added 11. Jackson added seven rebounds and three blocks despite spending most of the second half on the bench with four fouls. Titus Rubles (Dallas, Texas/Blinn College) grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds.
Rutgers' Myles Mack led all scorers with 17 points while Kadeem Jack added 10 along with grabbing nine rebounds.
Cincinnati led 34-32 at the half of a see-saw battle that saw eight ties, seven lead changes and neither team leading by more than four points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Bearcats hit seven of their first 10 shots, but went 2-for-11 over the rest of the half. UC got to the free-throw line 20 times, making 15, tripling up the Scarlet Knights, who were 5-of-9 from the line early. Rutgers was out running on the fast break, holding a 12-0 margin in the half.
UC closes out a two-game homestand on Tuesday, Jan. 14, welcoming new American member Temple into Fifth Third Arena. The game is scheduled for a 9 p.m. ET tip off with coverage on the CBS Sports Network and 700 WLW AM. Tickets for all remaining Bearcats home games are available by calling 1-877-CATS-TIX or visiting CATSTIX.com.