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By Bill Koch
Go.BEARCATS.com
CINCINNATI - The first sign that it was going to be a good Senior Day for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats occurred with less than three minutes into the game when senior forward Jermaine Sanders buried a 3-point shot to give the Bearcats a 5-0 lead.
It was the first 3-pointer for Sanders since the Feb. 21 game at Houston. In his last seven games, he had made 1 of 14 from long range. But this one was right on the money, and when it went in, Sanders felt a wave of relief.
"I was happy that first shot went in," Sanders said.
So were his teammates and the UC coaches, who were hoping that Sanders, the lone senior on the roster, would go out with a bang in his final home game as a Bearcat. Sanders went on to score 12 points, one of four UC players in double figures in the Bearcats' 77-65 victory over Memphis on Sunday before 12,358 fans at Fifth Third Arena.
"I couldn't be happier for a guy," said associate head coach Larry Davis. "It couldn't have been storybook better for him to come in and play as well as he played. He was so disappointed after both the Tulane and the Tulsa games, he was coming to the bench and he was upset. In the Tulsa game, he missed a couple of wide open ones Kevin Johnson and a couple of the other guys grabbed him and said, `Shoot it. Don't worry about it. We believe in you.' "
The victory sealed the No. 3 seed for UC in this week's American Athletic Conference tournament in Hartford. The Bearcats (22-9 overall, 13-5 in the league) have won five in a row and will face the winner of the Thursday's game between No. 6 seed Connecticut and No. 11 seed South Florida at 9 p.m. Friday. Memphis (18-13, 10-8) will be the No. 5 seed and will face Temple on Friday.
Before the game, Sanders was honored during Senior Day festivities with UC head coach Mick Cronin making the presentation. Surrounded by family members, Sanders repeatedly wiped away tears after he and Cronin embraced at center court while the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
When he was taken out of the game with 45.2 seconds remaining and the victory assured, he received another standing ovation as the student section chanted, "Thank you, Sanders."
"It was a very emotional day for me," said Sanders who said he was grateful that Cronin made his first appearance at Fifth Third since Dec 17. Cronin The UC has been unable to coach since then as he recovers from an arterial dissection in his brain.
"It meant a lot knowing the condition that he had and he put that aside to come and show support for me," Sanders said. "I'm blessed to have a coach like him."
The Bearcats jumped out to a 21-4 lead on the strength of 10 early points by Farad Cobb, who finished with 16. They led by 13 at halftime and never trailed by fewer than 10 in the second half, even though Memphis used full-court pressure that paid dividends in turnovers and transition baskets. The Tigers made 10 of their first 15 shots in the second half, but were still unable to make a serious dent in UC's lead.
"It seemed like they were making a run, but we really were just trading baskets," Cobb said. "But we don't want to trade baskets with teams. We want to get stops so that we can make a run and get up by a bigger lead."
Eventually, that's what happened. UC led by 16 with 47 seconds to play.
UC junior forward Octavius Ellis had another big day, scoring 19 points with 11 rebounds for his third career double-double. Ellis, who's from in Memphis and wanted to play for the Tigers growing up, scored only two points with three rebounds in UC's 63-50 loss at Memphis on Jan. 15.
This time, Ellis said, without the pressure of playing in his hometown, he was more relaxed.
"I just went out and played," Ellis said. "I played for Jermaine really. (In the first Memphis game), I had a lot of pressure on me because I was going back home. I had never played in Memphis in front of my home in a college game. I had people calling me every second. I just went out and just played today. I just had fun."
Davis said he knew before the game that Ellis was locked in.
"He was disappointed in his play (at Memphis)," Davis said. "Obviously, being from Memphis, he wanted to beat them bad. He knows a lot of those guys."
Ellis wasn't the only UC player who was ready for this one.
"They weren't going to be denied today," Davis said. "I'm always really nervous (before a game) but going into this game I'm thinking to myself, `I'm not as nervous. There's something wrong.' I just felt like they were going to play today. They came out of the gate and set the tone early."
After the game, Sanders and Ellis entered the interview room wearing the headbands with fuzzy red material sticking up, like many in the student section wore during the game. Asked why they were wearing them, Ellis said simply, "We're on fire."
It was hard to disagree.
CRONIN'S RETURN - Cronin walked onto the Fifth Third Arena floor for the Senior Day ceremony about 15 minutes before the game with his right fist raised in the air as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
After the festivities, the UC head coach briefly addressed the fans.
"Before I go back home, I want to thank everybody for your support this year for our team," he said, "especially the Rally Cats. The program is only as good as its student support, its fans and its former players. We have all three and that's why the program is bigger than any one person. I'm lucky to be a part of it. Keep fighting for these guys. We've got a long way to go this year."
Cronin's presence was welcomed by his players and by Davis.
"It was good seeing him back in here," Cobb said. "He's still involved, but to see him out on the court and just around us was a good feeling."
Davis said Cronin chose not to address the team in the locker room before the game, apparently in an effort to maintain the routine that has been established under Davis in his absence.
"It was awesome to have him back in here," Davis said. "The fans gave him a good reception, which was awesome. I'm just driving the car temporarily. I can't wait until he gets his results back from his tests and they're positive and he gets cleared. I've said this before. I don't want to let Mick down. I don't' want to let the university down and I don't want to let our kids down. For him to be here on Senior Day, that was very nice for all of us."
Sunday's crowd of 12,358 raised UC's season average to 9,334, the highest during Cronin's nine years as head coach.
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 as featured columnist in January, 2015.