TicketsJan. 14, 2014
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | USATSI Gallery 
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Final Stats | Notes | Quotes | Photo Gallery | Blog Post Cincinnati, Ohio • Fifth Third Arena |  69 CINCINNATI | ||||||||||||
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CINCINNATI - Sean Kilpatrick (Yonkers, N.Y./Notre Dame Prep) drained six three-point shots, helping lead the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team to a 69-58 win over Temple, Tuesday in American Athletic Conference action inside Fifth Third Arena.
Kilpatrick, who tied a season high with six triples, finished with a game-high 23 points as No. 19/23 Cincinnati (15-3, 5-0 American) won its ninth in-a-row overall and matched its best start to a season under head coach Mick Cronin. Temple (5-10, 0-5 American) lost its fifth straight.
The Bearcats faced a scrappy Owls squad, whose last five losses have come by an average of seven points.
A layup by Jermaine Sanders (Far Rockaway, N.Y./Rice) with 7:08 remaining tied things up at 47 apiece after a 10-0 Temple run over 2:48 handed the Owls a 47-45 lead. From there, Kilpatrick drained a pair of three-pointers and Sanders added a three of his own at the four-minute mark, capping a 10-0 Bearcats run over 2:34 that gave UC a 57-49 advantage.
Two-straight baskets from Titus Rubles (Dallas, Texas/Blinn College), including a fast-break layup and a dunk on a feed from Justin Jackson (Cocoa Beach, Fla./Arlington Country Day) moved the run to 14-1 over 3:40 with Temple missing five shots and UC leading 61-50 with 2:47 left.
The Owls fought back, playing UC tough as they had all night, but a dagger three from Kilpatrick, his sixth of the night, as the shot clock expired with 51 seconds left, kept the margin at nine, 64-55.
UC would hit five free throws down the stretch and closed out its 15th straight home win. The Bearcats held their opponent under 70 points for the 25th consecutive game, the longest active streak in the nation.
Jackson and Rubles both netted double-doubles. Jackson scored 15 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked six shots before fouling out. Rubles finished with 13 points, a career-high 12 rebounds and a pair of assists. He scored all 13 of his points in the second half, going 7-for-7 from the free-throw line and grabbing seven of his 12 rebounds.
Temple was led by Dalton Pepper's 21 points, followed by Quenton Decosey's 17 and Anthony Lee's 14. Lee also added 11 rebounds.
Cincinnati led by as many as 11 in the first half, but the lead was whittled to two, 27-25, at the half by the Owls. UC did not have a field goal for the final 3:32 of the half and was outscored 14-3 by Temple in the final five minutes of the opening stanza.
Temple grabbed its first lead at 11-10 with 12:48 remaining, battling out of an early five point hole. A pair of Troy Caupain (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) free throws started a 10-0 Cincinnati run that saw Temple go cold, missing three shots and turning it over five times. The Bearcats led 24-13 with 4:55 remaining when the Owls started their late run to get back in the game.
UC returns to action this weekend, continuing league play with a road matchup at USF on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. The game will be televised by ESPNU and air on 700 WLW AM.