Monday, November 29, 1999UC wins Big Island title
Unbeaten 'Cats hold off Iowa State
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HILO, Hawaii — The Cincinnati Bearcats experienced problems with the officials' judgment and the basic application of the rules, to say nothing of the accomodations and the weather at the Big Island Invitational. The most obvious problem in the tournament, though, was Iowa State.
Iowa State guard Kantrall Horton, left, has the ball stripped by Cincinnati's Steve Logan, right, and Kenyon Martin in the first half of the championship game.
(AP photo)
| ZOOM |That was one they could solve.
No.1-ranked UC (4-0) earned the Big Island championship and remained one of only three teams in the AP preseason top 10 to avoid defeat with its 75-60 victory over the Cyclones (3-2).
The Bearcats got 22 points from Kenyon Martin, the tournament's MVP, 16 from Steve Logan and 14 from freshman DerMarr Johnson. UC hit 10 consecutive free throws down the stretch to clinch the victory.
Led by power forward Marcus Fizer's impressive effort, Iowa State was physical and intense but overmatched by the Bearcats' size and basketball skill. UC got stirring efforts from center Martin and Johnson.
Huggins excoriated the officials — who don't typically work Division I games — on numerous occasions and with about as much vigor as he could manage. He not draw a technical foul, though, which couldn't be said for Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy.
For a game between two teams with reputations for defensive em phasis, there was a remarkable amount of accurate shooting. In the first half, Iowa State made 12 of the 18 shots the Bearcats did not block. UC connected on 13 of the 19 shots launched from inside the 3-point line.
The Bearcats stormed into to lead 46-32 with scores on each of its first four trips of the second half, including a stunning play by Johnson on which he spun from the right baseline toward the lane, switched the ball to his left hand and banked in a hanging jumper.
UC got sloppy with the ball, however, and Fizer continued to punish the Bearcats with his strength and soft touch. When he scored his second basket of the half, the lead was cut to eight points with better than 14 minutes to play, but he picked up a third personal foul two possessions later and went to the bench with his team down 10. The Bearcats did not make use of his 3-minute absence, adding just a point to their lead.
Cincinnati center Jermaine Tate knocks the loose ball away from Iowa State guard Kantrell Horton in the first half Sunday.
(AP photo)
| ZOOM |UC clearly was tired as it entered the game's final minutes. For all the depth the Bearcats supposedly enjoy, Huggins trusted only seven players through the heart of this game, leaving guard Leonard Stokes and center Donald Little out of the rotation.
The result of their weariness was an overdependence on perimeter shots.
They allowed Iowa State to close its deficit to 59-53 with 6:30 left, but Martin scored on a turnaround jumper and Johnson pushed them back to a double-digit lead by blocking a shot by David Shirley with his right hand and catching it with his left. He then dribbled upcourt and was fouled near the three-point line. Johnson made both free throws.
Iowa State's basic approach is one the Bearcats likely won't see again this season, unless it works well enough to get the Cyclones into the NCAA Tournament and coincidence brings them together again.
The Cyclones employ a pure three-guard offense.
Jamaal Tinsley is 6-3. Michael Nurse is 6-1, same as Kantrail Horton. Although Tinsley is the preferred point guard, they are nearly interchangeable as ballhandlers and all have license to shoot from 3-point range.
When one of them does, the other two immediately turn and sprint to the opposite foul line, and the shooter dashes to midcourt. Eustachy instructs them to worry not about whether the shot connects or a rebound is available. He does not want the opposition turning any long rebounds into fast break opportunities.
UC did not seem particularly interested in the size mismatches Iowa State's lineup offered. The Bearcats did nothing to change their approach early in the game, entering the ball to Martin and center Jermaine Tate in the post rather than giving Pete Mickeal or Johnson a chance to shoot over the smaller defenders inside.
The effort to get Martin the ball made sense, given his importance to the UC offense, and he delivered six consecutive points after the Bearcats opened with four empty possessions and fell behind 5-0.
UC tied it at 9-all on a 3-pointer from the left wing by forward Pete Mickeal, then got the chance to go ahead when Martin and guard Steve Logan smothered Tinsley with a suffocating trap near the midcourt circle.
Both UC players banged Tinsley while they pressured the ball, and Tinsley delivered at least two elbows while trying to clear space. The officials called nothing, and the ball squirted loose to DerMarr Johnson, who raced to the goal and slammed for an 11-9 lead. This was too much for Eustachy, who screamed at the official nearest the bench and earned a technical foul. Logan made two free throws to double the lead.
The Bearcats fell behind twice in the next five minutes and did not put any serious distance between themselves and the Cyclones until Satterfield ignited a 17-6 run with a left-to-right drive across the lane.
He scored again with an amazing tip-in of a missed jumper by Johnson and later on a deep 3-pointer. When Ryan Fletcher followed that with a long jumper, UC was ahead 34-24 with 3:44 left in the half.
IOWA ST (60) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Fizer 34 12-19 2-3 2-4 1 4 26 Tinsley 37 4-11 4-6 1-6 8 4 12 Rancik 18 1-4 0-0 0-1 0 0 2 Horton 37 1-6 0-1 0-5 2 4 2 Nurse 30 4-5 0-1 0-1 2 2 10 Evans 5 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 0 Hawkins 16 2-7 0-0 1-1 1 2 4 Shirley 23 1-5 2-2 3-4 0 3 4 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 25-57 8-13 8-24 14 20 60 _______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.439, FT-.615. 3-Point Goals: 2-7, .286 (Fizer 0-1, Horton 0-2, Nurse 2-3, Hawkins 0-1). Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 1 (Shirley). Turnovers: 14 (Tinsley 4, Horton 3, Rancik 2, Shirley 2, Fizer, Hawkins, Nurse). Steals: 3 (Tinsley 2, Horton).
CINCINNATI (75) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp Tate 24 2-3 0-0 0-0 3 5 4 Mickeal 33 2-6 1-6 3-9 0 3 6 Martin 32 7-13 8-8 3-9 0 2 22 Johnson 30 6-10 2-2 1-3 4 1 14 Logan 33 2-7 12-12 1-3 4 3 16 Satterfield 25 3-5 2-2 1-4 3 0 9 Fletcher 23 2-5 0-0 1-3 0 1 4 _______________________________________________ TOTALS 200 24-49 25-30 10-31 14 15 75 _______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.490, FT-.833. 3-Point Goals: 2-10, .200 (Mickeal 1-2, Johnson 0-2, Logan 0-3, Satterfield 1-2, Fletcher 0-1). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 13 (Martin 9, Johnson 2, Mickeal, Tate). Turnovers: 15 (Martin 3, Mickeal 3, Fletcher 2, Johnson 2, Satterfield 2, Tate 2, Logan). Steals: 11 (Logan 3, Mickeal 3, Martin 2, Johnson, Satterfield, Tate). __________________________________ Iowa St 30 30 - 60 Cincinnati 38 37 - 75 __________________________________ Technical fouls: Iowa St 1 (Bench). A: 2,500. Officials: Luis Fuentes, Ron Omori, Chris Sheolin.
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