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By Bill Koch
GoBEARCATS.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The first time the University of Cincinnati Bearcats appeared doomed occurred less than four minutes into the second half, when junior forward Octavius Ellis was ejected after he was called for a flagrant two foul.
The Bearcats trailed by only three, but they were being soundly beaten on the boards and the only player they had left who could physically match up with Purdue's two seven footers was 6-foot-10 Coreontae DeBerry, who had played more than 15 minutes in a game only four times this season. And he already had two fouls.
At that point, associate head coach Larry Davis called his team together and gave them a choice of how to proceed without Ellis, who was ejected for hitting Purdue's A.J. Hammons with a forearm to the face as he prepared to box him out. It was Ellis' third ejection of the season.
"I told `em, `Look guys, he's gone,' " Davis said. "We're either going to band together and fight like hell, and every guy who's left on this bench is going to give me everything he's got, or we can quit. Which do you want to do?' And they all looked at me and said, `We're fighting like heck.' "
The Bearcats did in fact band together to produce a stirring 66-65 overtime victory over No. 9 seed Purdue on Thursday night in the NCAA Tournament's Midwest Regional at KFC Yum Center. No. 8 seed UC (23-10) will face No. 1 seed and top-ranked, unbeaten Kentucky on Saturday for the right to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
The Bearcats rallied behind a career-high 13 points from DeBerry, 14 from Farad Cobb, and nine points and 12 rebounds from freshman forward Gary Clark. Caupain added 10 and sent the game into overtime with a layup just before time expired in regulation.
Hammons scored 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead Purdue (21-13). The Boilermakers saw their streak of 14 straight victories in their first game in the tournament come to an end.
After Ellis' departure, the Bearcats scrapped and battled and stayed in contention, but despite their herculean effort, they trailed the Boilermakers by seven points with 48 seconds left.
Again, Davis had some words for his players.
"I told them, `You can't give in. It ain't over,' " Davis said. "I kept telling them, `We can do this. Just don't give in. Keep fighting, keep defending.' "
Kevin Johnson started the road back for UC with a 3-pointer with 44 seconds left and Caupain followed with an old-fashioned 3-point play. Still, the Bearcats still trailed by three with 38 seconds left. A Clark layup pulled UC within one, but the Bearcats still needed some help from Purdue's Jon Octeus to pull off the comeback.
Octeus obliged by missing the front end of the bonus and then by making only one of two free throws with seven seconds remaining, leaving UC trailing, 59-57. The Boilermakers then called timeout, and Davis set up the final play.
"I put Farad in the corner, Kevin in the corner, two guys that can shoot it in," Davis said. "We had run that play we call `sprint.' About three weeks ago, we put it in. We had never had to use in a game."
Clark set a ball screen, Caupain drove to the basket and laid the ball off the glass. It rolled around the rim in an excruciating manner and then dropped through the net as time expired.
"I just wanted to get it on the rim and give it an opportunity to fall," Caupain said. "When I watched it roll around the rim, all I could do was look up and when I seen it go in all I could do was smile. The shots tonight had been rolling around the rim in and out. I thought it was going to be one of those. Luckily, it rolled around the rim the right way and dropped in the net."
UC and Purdue traded baskets in overtime until DeBerry made a twisting, almost acrobatic, reverse layup that gave the Bearcats a 64-63 lead with 3:08 to play.
"I haven't made that shot since high school," DeBerry said. "It was just in the moment. I saw an open spot that I was able to score in. I went there and I got the bucket."
Neither team scored again until Cobb made a layup with 28 seconds left to put the Bearcats ahead 66-63. Octeus then scored to pull the Boilermakers within one with five seconds to play. Purdue fouled Caupain, UC's best free throw shooter, but Caupain missed the front end of the one-and-one. That gave the Boilermakers one final shot.
Keep in mind that UC had already lost three games this season on last-second shots, two by their opponents and one when the Bearcats missed the final shot. And yes, they were thinking about that in those final seconds.
"That was one thing that we harped on," Caupain said. "Let's not go out on another buzzer beater because that's the worst way to lose."
Middletown High School product Vince Edwards took the last shot for the Boilermakers, but this time fortune was on UC's side. Edwards' 3-point shot was no good and the Bearcats had their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2012.
After the game, the Boilermakers were still wondering how the Bearcats had come back to beat them without Ellis.
"I felt like the momentum changed a lot (when he went out)," said Purdue coach Matt Painter. "We just tried to keep pounding the middle because they only had like one big left. The momentum we had the whole game. We just had to finish the game off."
DeBerry was the wild card that Painter and his players hadn't counted on. In his longest stint of the season, he made five of nine shots and blocked two shots to enable the Bearcats to hold the fort.
"I just had the mentality that I had to step or we were going to be in for a long game," DeBerry said.
UC prevailed even though it was out-rebounded, 51-38, and outscored, 21-9, in second-chance points. Purdue made only 4 of 26 from 3-point range and shot 36.1 percent compared with UC's 41 percent.
So now the Bearcats get a shot at Kentucky, which is what they wanted all along. They will be decided underdogs - as everyone is against UK - but that's OK with them.
"We are a good team," Johnson said. "I feel like sometimes we get a lack of respect in the basketball world. Just to get the opportunity to play the best team in the country, being one of the best teams to play basketball, is a great opportunity. We'll go out there with a lot of confidence. We've got nothing to lose. That's not a bad position to be in. It'll be pretty fun in my opinion."
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.