TicketsBy Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Whenever the University of Cincinnati Bearcats play a team that can't match up physically with them, coach Mick Cronin refers to the 3-point shot as the great equalizer that can allow the lesser team to compete with the stronger one.
It certainly was that Thursday night, especially in the first half when Cleveland State shot 68.4 percent and made seven of 12 3-point shots to keep the game close. It wasn't until late in the game that the Bearcats were able to pull away, using a 17-4 run to blow the game open on the way to an 81-62 victory before 7,988 fans at BB&T Arena in their final non-conference game of the regular season.
The Bearcats will open American Athletic Conference play on New Year's Eve against Memphis at BB&T.
The win was the fourth in a row for UC overall and the 33rd straight at home, the longest home winning streak in the country.
"I thought that he would spread us out, try to drive the ball and use the 3-point shot," UC coach Mick Cronin said of Cleveland State coach Dennis Felton, a former head coach at Georgia. "They had nothing to lose. They did exactly that. And they made some hard shots. Their kids made some great passes. It took us awhile to adjust to it. I told the guys you've got to stay with it. Fortunately we executed on offense extremely well, which was the key to the first half and staying in the game during their 3-point barrage."
No. 20 UC (11-2) was led by Gary Clark, who scored 18 points on 9-of-12 shooting after being held without a field goal in his last game. Jarron Cumberland scored 16 points, his highest total since he scored 19 against Coppin State on Nov. 16. And Kyle Washington scored 14 points to pass the 1,000-point career mark in his career. He also pulled down nine rebonds.
Cleveland State (3-8) is 0-12 all-time vs. UC. The Vikings were led by Tyree Appleby with 16 points.
The Vikings, who trailed by nine at halftime, scored the first seven points of the second half to get within two, at 43-41, before a Clark layup stopped the run. Clark scored six straight points to put UC back on top by five. The Bearcats appeared to be pulling away after Justin Jenifer made a 3-pointer to give UC a 60-49 lead, but Cleveland State answered with five straight points to get back within six with 8:58 to play.
The Vikings cooled off considerably in the second half when they shot 37 percent and made only three of nine from long range but, still shot 50 percent for the game, 47.6 percent from 3-point range. They entered the game shooting 31 percent from beyond the arc.
"They were just hitting shots and they were reading our defense well," Washington said of the Vikings' first-half performance. "We just had to weather the storm and come together as a unit. I thought it was a good test for us. They were just sticking with us, sticking with us and we finally started breaking through."
As Clark said, "When teams are hitting those shots, it's hard to pull away from them."
Fortunately for the Bearcats, they were also playing well offensively, shooting 56.3 percent in the first half, which enabled them to pull out to a 43-34 halftime lead.
"The key to the game was while they were playing really well on offense, so did we," Cronin said, "because if we had struggled we would have been in a world of hurt. We'd have been down 10 quickly."
Washington scored the first 404 points of his career during his two years at North Carolina State before he transferred to UC after his sophomore year. He now has 1,006 points for his career.
"That's a huge accomplishment in basketball," Washington said. "You appreciate things like that but I wasn't necessarily thinking about it."
Cronin said his focus with Washington has been to turn him into a better rebounder and improve his defense to prepare him for the next level, but he didn't minimize his big man's offensive contribution since he's been at UC.
"He's a great scorer," Cronin said. "He's won a lot of games for us because he's added scoring punch to our lineup. He's taken us to a whole 'nother level."
The Bearcats are 41-8 since Washington became eligible to play for them last fall.
UC will now turn its attention to winning the American, something it has done only once. That was in 2013-14 when the Bearcats finished 15-3 in the league and won a share of the title with Louisville in the conference's first season.
"We have a lot to still work on as a team," Clark said. "Our defense isn't where it has been since I've been here at times. Once we get to that on the defensive part, everything else will come natural as far as offensively, passing the ball, less turnovers and our defense creating offense."
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.