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By Bill Koch
Go.BEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - For a few brief moments, it appeared as if the University of Cincinnati Bearcats were going to win a Shootout for the ages.
They had gradually erased a 12-point halftime deficit and took a 57-56 lead on two free throws by Troy Caupain with 19 seconds left. All they had to do was come up with a defensive stop to win the game, not an unreasonable expectation because their defense had dominated the second half.
But the Bearcats never got the chance to get that stop because freshman forward Gary Clark, who led UC with 14 points and seven rebounds, fouled Xavier freshman Trevon Bluiett beyond the top of the key with 11.5 seconds left. Bluiett had not scored the entire game, but he dropped in two free throws to return the lead to the Musketeers.
When UC's Farad Cobb launched a 3-pointer with about three seconds left that was no good, XU escaped with a 59-57 victory Wednesday night in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout before a sellout crowd of 13,176 at Fifth Third Arena.
"The shame of it is they gave too good of an effort in the second half to not finish a couple of little things, which would have won the game for us," said UC associate head coach Larry Davis.
UC (17-9) lost for the third straight time, the first time this season the Bearcats have suffered a three-game losing streak. XU, which was led by Dee Davis' 16 points, improved to 17-10 and beat UC for the sixth time in the last eight games.
The Musketeers shredded UC's vaunted defense in the first half with a 3-point shooting barrage that saw them make 8 of 15 from long range while UC made only one of nine. Dee Davis was the main culprit, making all four of his 3-point attempts, something the Bearcats had not counted on, considering that Davis was shooting 17.9 percent from beyond the arc in conference games.
"Tonight he made them," said UC's Davis.
The Bearcats tightened their defense in the second half, playing more man-to-man than they had all year. With Clark dominating inside on offense, they slowly came back.
"We came into the locker room and discussed it," Caupain said. "We said there's things we've got to get better at. Find the shooters. Don't let them shoot. We locked in and came out in the second half."
The Musketeers attempted only two 3-pointers in the second half, but made both of them.
"We knew it was going to get loud," said XU's Myles Davis, who scored 12 points. "We knew they were going to make their runs. We let then creep back into the game but at the end of the day we just stuck together."
UC completed its comeback with an Octavius Ellis tip-in that tied the score at 53-53 with 1:58 to play, the Fifth Third crowd roaring its approval. After Ellis blocked a Dee Davis shot, Clark scored to give UC a 55-53 lead. Clark was fouled on the play, but missed his free throw. That's when Dee Davis hit the big trey that returned the lead to the Musketeers with 51 seconds left.
After Caupain's free throws with 19 seconds left, Clark made what he called "a bonehead play."
Thinking that he had a chance for a steal on a pass to Bluiett, he was too aggressive and instead fouled Bluiett, who bounced the first free throw in off the rim. Then after a UC timeout, he dropped the second one cleanly through the net.
"It was a freshman foul and a freshman play," Clark said. "My teammates need me to be a more mature player. I feel like two straight games I've made a terrible play down the stretch of the game that cost my teammates the game and gave the opponent the opportunity to win."
UC still had a chance to win on a final shot, but Cobb's 3-point attempt was no good. Myles Davis rebounded for XU and was fouled by Ellis, then made one of two free throws to account for the final score.
"We wanted to set up a ball screen for Troy and try to get him loose," Larry Davis said of UC's final shot. "They doubled hard and he made the right play. He passed it to Ta. The guy ran at Ta and he passed it to Farad. The guy ran at Farad, shot fake, he gets a wide open shot. As a coach, that's all you can ask at the end of the game."
UC shot 60.9 percent in the second half, forced 15 XU turnovers, out-rebounded the Musketeers by one, outscored them, 42-16, in the paint, and 16-5 in second-chance points. But the Bearcats could not overcome XU's 58.8 percent 3-point shooting or their 9-3 edge at the free throw line. UC made just 4 of 16 from long range.
"In the second half we executed tremendously offensively," Davis said "We got shots we wanted and got the ball where we wanted to and knocked them down. I wish we would have knocked one more down."
Bill Koch covered UC Athletics for 27 years - 15 at The Cincinnati Post and 12 at The Cincinnati Enquirer - before joining the staff of GoBEARCATS.com in January, 2015 as featured columnist. Follow him on Twitter @bkoch.
Cincinnati's next home contest is Wednesday, Feb. 25, when UCF visits for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. For tickets, call 877-CATS-TIX or visit BearcatsBasketball.com.