Cincinnati Holds Off UCF, 60-55

By Bill Koch
GoBearcats.com

CINCINNATI – In a game where Tacko Fall, Central Florida's 7-foot-6 center, dominated the pre-game discussion, the smallest player on the floor stole the show.
    
Justin Jenifer, the University of Cincinnati's 5-foot-10 senior point guard, scored seven of the Bearcats' last 12 points and assisted on three others to lead UC to a 60-55 come-from-behind victory over UCF on Thursday night before a sellout crowd of 12,377 fans at Fifth Third Arena.  

The biggest shot of the game was Jenifer's three-pointer with 24 seconds left off a feed from Jarron Cumberland that gave UC a five-point lead. But by far the most entertaining was Jenifer's layup that fell through the basket a split second before Fall, who blocked five shots, could lumber over to try to reject it.

"I was lucky that I got it off the glass," Jenifer said. "I took a leap of faith that I'd get there before he got there and put it up as high as possible so he couldn't get it."

UC (22-4 overall, 11-2 in the American Athletic Conference) has won 15 straight home games. The victory was 400th for the Bearcats at Fifth Third, which opened in 1989. UCF (19-6, 9-4) lost for the 11th time in 12 games all-time against UC.
    
Jenifer and Keith Williams each scored 12 points to lead UC. Jarron Cumberland, the conference's leading scorer with 19.3 points per game, was held to 11 points on three-of-13 shooting. He scored only two points in the second half, but still made the pass that set up Jenifer's crucial three. He finished with seven rebounds six assists to go with four of UC's 14 turnovers.

"I kept telling him you're going to have to beat them with the pass," said UC coach Mick Cronin, "which he eventually did."

Aubrey Dawkins, the son of UCF coach Johnny Dawkins, scored 18 to lead the Knights.

UC trailed, 11-3, then scored 13 straight points to take the lead and went to intermission with a 26-18 lead. But that lead was wiped out in three minutes and 17 seconds of the second half when the Knights scored the first 10 points to take a 28-26 lead.

The UCF run quickly ballooned into 18-2, which put the Knights up by eight. UCF led 46-40 with 7:56 left when Williams connected on a three-pointer from the corner to pull the Bearcats within three.

"We needed that like oxygen," Cronin said.

UC tied the game on a three-point play by Nysier Brooks with 5:23 to play and took the lead on Jenifer's dandy layup over the big fella. After UCF's Collin Smith missed a shot, Jenifer rebounded, dribbled down the floor, and passed to Trevon Scott, who converted a three-pointer from the wing to make it 53-48, UC, with 2:10 left.

B.J. Taylor then dropped in two free throws for UCF. The Knights had a chance to tie after Jenifer missed a three, but Taylor's three-point attempt was no good. When the ball went out of bounds in the struggle for the rebound, the officials first said it went off UC. But after viewing the replay, possession was awarded to UC. 

Jenifer's clutch three-pointer gave the Bearcats a 56-50 lead with 24 seconds left, but that still wasn't enough to secure the win. Taylor made a layup to make it 58-55 with seven seconds left. Dawkins then fouled Williams, who converted both ends of the one-and-one with 6.3 seconds left to put the game away.

"Give them credit," Dawkins said. "They've been in these moments a few more times than we have and they made plays down the stretch. They showed their poise and showed why they've been one of the best teams in our conference."

The win was the 24th straight conference victory at Fifth Third Arena for the Bearcats, who fed off the sellout crowd.

"The fans bring that energy, with us playing hard plus the fans screaming hard, it gave us that extra push," Williams said.

UCF committed 15 turnovers in the first half, one below its season high, but turned it over only two more times in the second. UC had 14 turnovers, but came back from a poor rebounding first half to win that battle, 28-24.

The Bearcats shot only 40.4 percent from the field, but made seven of 14 from beyond the arc and out-scored UCF 16-14 in the paint despite Fall's intimidating presence.

"It's just so hard when you run your offense and guys are open cutting to the basket and then Tacko's standing there," Cronin said. "It's a lot different than you're used to."

Somehow that wasn't a problem for the diminutive Jenifer.

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.