The Cincinnati Bearcats moved to 3-1 with a nice win over the Northwestern State Demons, 2-3, 71-43. UC held the Demons to just 28% shooting and 22 rebounds. UC shot 54% and had 42 boards. UC got to the line 28 times, which was a vast improvement from the past couple games. They only made 16, which was not as good. Yancy Gates led the way with an 18-11 double double. Sean Kilpatrick was cutting to the basket at will, scoring 13 on 5-7 shooting. He pulled down 8 boards with a team high 3 assists. Dion Dixon, best friend, had 12 points. 11 of those came in the first half. He hit 8-10 at the free throw line. That meant the rest of the team was 8-18. Ouch.
The bench got a lot of minutes and played well. Ge’Lawn Guyn showed his offensive side. He nailed 2 triples, got to the line, and knocked home a 2 for a career best 10. Jermaine Sanders had a nice fast break layup. He was only 1-3 at the line, including an airball. Octavius Ellis had 3 boards, but turned the ball over 3 times. Cheikh Mbodj got his first minutes as a Bearcat. He’s clearly working himself into playing shape. He got to the line twice, hitting 2-4. He also blocked a shot. Speaking of blocks, Justin Jackson had 3 to go with his 7 boards. He is going to give you defensive effort every game. Which is great because that’s not the same with his offense, where he was 1-5 from the field and 1-4 at the line. Cashmere Wright tossed in 9, but only 2 assists against 5 turnovers. He’s been a turnover machine. Gotta tighten it up.
Tightening it up is what the Bearcats did. Northwestern State didn’t have a prayer of coming back once UC took the lead after a slow start. They just weren’t talented enough. This win did everything that you would expect. It gave the young guys a chance to play, let the defense get things going, let Gates get going, let the guards drive to the rim, and it was a win. It went pretty much the way I, and probably everyone else, thought. It was predicted here 71-44, and I was rooting like hell for the final free throw to fall. Alas, 1 point off is good enough. As was this win.
The Bearcats pick things up Friday against Marshall. Expanded thoughts tomorrow.
Box score via ESPN
| Northwestern State Demons | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Shamir Davis, G | 4-9 | 1-2 | 4-4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
| Demetrice Jacobs, G | 3-8 | 1-1 | 0-2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Louis Ellis, G | 2-5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| William Mosley, C | 2-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Gary Roberson, G-F | 0-8 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| James Hulbin, F | 4-11 | 1-4 | 4-4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| Tyler Washington, G | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| John Brisco, G | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Marvin Frazier, C | 0-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrick Robinson, F | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Gary Stewart, G | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| O.J. Evans, C | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| 15-54 | 4-16 | 9-15 | 9 | 22 | 8 | 13 | 3 | 16 | 22 | 43 | |
| 27.8% | 25.0% | 60.0% | |||||||||
| Cincinnati Bearcats | |||||||||||
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Yancy Gates, F | 9-14 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
| Sean Kilpatrick, G | 5-7 | 2-3 | 1-1 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| Dion Dixon, G | 2-6 | 0-2 | 8-10 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 |
| Cashmere Wright, G | 4-5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| Justin Jackson, F | 1-5 | 0-1 | 1-4 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Ge’Lawn Guyn, G | 3-4 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Jermaine Sanders, F | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Cheikh Mbodj, C | 0-1 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Octavius Ellis, F | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Kelvin Gaines, C | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jeremiah Davis, G | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| 25-46 | 5-11 | 16-28 | 11 | 42 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 11 | 71 | |
| 54.3% | 45.5% | 57.1% | |||||||||
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
