Overtime Loss
January 20, 2007 03:19 PM | General
January 20, 2007
BOX SCORE
CINCINNATI – Cincinnati scored the first six points in overtime and went on to defeat West Virginia 96-83 Saturday at Firth Third Arena for the Bearcats’ first Big East victory of the year.
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| West Virginia guard Alex Ruoff (22) goes up for a shot against Cincinnati guard Jamual Warren, left, in the first half of a basketball game Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007 in Cincinnati.
AP photo/David Kohl |
“We almost got it,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein.
West Virginia (14-4, 4-3) saw its 17-point first-half erased by a full-court-pressing Cincinnati defense that eventually got to the Mountaineers’ 3-point shooters. A Frank Young half-court 3 just ahead of the buzzer was West Virginia’s ninth (9 of 12) and gave it a 43-31 lead.
“We could have been out by a little bit more and maybe hung on,” Beilein said. “They just disrupted us enough.”
The 3-ball wasn’t there for the Mountaineers in the second half and West Virginia couldn’t stop the Bearcats at the other end of the floor. Any Cincinnati missed shot was a Bearcat rebound and put-back; UC posted a 2-to-1 rebounding advantage and grabbed 33 total boards in the second half.
Cincinnati (10-8, 1-3) took its first lead of the game with 8:53 left on a Cedric McGowan dunk, and led by five, 71-66, on three Marvin Gentry free throws at 4:02. A three-point play by Da’Sean Butler pulled West Virginia to within two, 71-69, and WVU retook the lead on an Alex Ruoff 3 with 1:04 remaining to make the score 74-73.
A traveling call on Cincinnati’s John Williamson helped give West Virginia an opportunity to add to its lead when Butler was fouled with 36 seconds left. Butler managed to convert just one of two to make it a two-point game. It was one of just four misses for WVU at the free throw line for the game (16 of 20).
“We lost the lead which is tough to deal with in an atmosphere like this and then we regained it and were in a position to win it,” Beilein said.
Cincinnati tied the game on a Jamual Warren jumper with 16 seconds left. After a Beilein timeout to draw up a possible game-winning play, Alex Ruoff got the basketball to Young on the wing. The senior took off to his right and tried a difficult shot from the corner that grazed the front of the rim.
Williamson pulled down the rebound for Cincinnati with 0.8 seconds left.
“We sort of blew up that last play … who knows if we would have got it?” Beilein said. “To win in regulation would have been the ideal thing.”
The Bearcats outscored West Virginia 21-8 in the overtime.
“The back-to-back three-point plays were really the difference in the overtime,” Beilein said.
Gentry, who came into the game averaging just 5.5 points per game, scored a career-high 32 on 9 of 14 shooting. The JC transfer hit 5 of 7 from 3-point range.
Williamson scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Warren contributed 16 points, Vaughn had 12 and Sikes added 10. The Bearcats cashed in at the free throw line, hitting 29 of 41 and forcing Young and Joe Alexander to foul out of the game.
Despite playing an up-tempo style, Cincinnati turned the ball over just six times against WVU’s 1-3-1 and man-to-man defenses.
“That team had six turnovers and when a team turns the ball over six times just like we do it’s very tough to beat,” Beilein said.
Ruoff contributed a career-high 21 for West Virginia.
Butler scored 14 off the bench and Young added 13, although he was only 5 of 17 from the floor.
Nine of West Virginia’s 15 3-pointers came in the first half. The Mountaineers finished the game 15 of 40 from behind the arc. After a cold shooting start, Cincinnati finished the game 29 of 64 for 45 percent.
The Bearcats were 9 of 20 from 3.
Cincinnati’s 96 points were a season high against West Virginia this year. The Mountaineers are now 1-5 in games played at Cincinnati having last won there in 1941.
“I was surprised with a couple of their losses but I’m not surprised with their couple of very good wins,” Beilein said.
WVU returns to action this Wednesday night against Marshall in Charleston in the 2007 Chesapeake Capital Classic.
Both the men’s and women’s games can be seen outside of West Virginia on a pay-per-view basis through CSTV All-Access. Log onto CSTV Pay-Per-View for more information.
