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CINCINNATI -- The University of Cincinnati men's basketball team used a late offensive effort to knock off No. 19/17 San Diego State 71-62 in overtime Wednesday inside Fifth Third Arena.
A jumper by Octavius Ellis (Memphis, Tenn./Trinity Valley CC) with 3:33 left in the extra period and a dagger triple from Farad Cobb (West Palm Beach, Fla./NW Florida State College) on the next possession started a 12-0 run that propelled the Bearcats to the win. During the run, UC held the Aztecs without a basket for over four minutes and held them to a 2-for-10 effort from the field in overtime.
Cincinnati (7-2) played in its first consecutive overtime games since the 1966-67 campaign and rebounded after dropping a double overtime contest at Nebraska on Saturday. San Diego State (7-3) lost for the third time in the last five contests.
The Aztecs struggled from behind the arc for most of the game, going 1-for-14 in the first 28 minutes of the game before finding their stroke and hitting two triples late in regulation to keep things close.
Ellis finished with eight points and a game-high tying nine rebounds, four blocks and two steals. Cobb tied for the team high with 12 points, adding five rebounds and two assists.
Troy Caupain (Midlothian, Va./Cosby) also knocked in 12, adding four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Gary Clark (Clayton, N.C./Clayton) finished with 10 points and five rebounds.
Trailing the Aztecs 41-36 with 9:28 left in regulation, UC made five-straight buckets including six points from Cobb to grab a 49-46 lead with 4:02 left in the second half.
The Aztecs' Trey Kell completed a three-point play to knot things up at 49 apiece the next time down the floor. On the ensuing possession, Cobb drained a three to give UC a 52-49 edge and Clark converted a layup with 45 seconds left to give the Bearcats a 5-point cushion, 54-49.
Aqeel Quinn hit a triple for SDSU and Kell sank another one sandwiched by a pair of Kevin Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Summit Country Day) free throws and UC had a 56-55 lead with 12 seconds left.
After a pair of timeouts, Caupain was fouled on a layup attempt late in the shot clock and split the pair of free throws, and UC's lead was two, 57-55 with nine ticks on the clock. UC was 17-of-21 on the night from the stripe.
On the final possession of regulation, the Aztecs' Winston Shepard fell down driving to the baseline with three seconds left, but the Bearcats were whistled for a foul and Shepard sank both free throws to send the game to overtime despite a season-high crowd of 9,217 on their feet doing their best to disrupt him.
Shepard finished 5-of-5 from the line and had a game-high 17 points along with five assists and four rebounds. Kell was the only other San Diego State player in double figures with 11 points.
UC led 22-20 at the half in an opening 20 minutes that saw both teams shoot under 35 percent and combine for a 1-16 effort from behind the three-point line.
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