Thursday, December 09, 1999

UC 77, NORTH CAROLINA 68

'Cats build 17-point lead, then hold on

BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

[martin]
Kenyon Martin had 16 points, nine boards
(AP photos)
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        CHICAGO — Invited to the Great Eight almost as an afterthought, the Cincinnati Bearcats departed as one of this event's fab four and as a decisive No.1 in college basketball.

        UC joined Michigan State, Connecticut and Arizona as winners in this two-night festival with a 77-68 dismissal of No.7 North Carolina at the United Center Wednesday night.

        “They're one of the best teams I've seen in several years,” said North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge.

        The Bearcats led by as many as 17 points in the first half and recovered to maintain a sufficient lead after their advantage was slashed to a single basket with more than 12 minutes remaining.

[satterfield]
Kenny Satterfield
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        UC (6-0) got 21 points and five rebounds from a rejuvenated Pete Mickeal and 16 points and nine rebounds from center Kenyon Martin, who were named to the Great Eight all-tournament team along with MSU's Charlie Bell, UConn's Khalid-El Amin and Temple's Mark Karcher. Martin was MVP.

        “For me personally, this was just another game,” Martin said. “We have 30-some games. You can't pick out one game and say that's the most important. But it was a big win for us.”

        UC squeezed into the Great Eight just before the buzzer, benefitting from the decision of Kentucky not to participate and the unavailability of Ohio State, St. John's and Duke because of conference conflicts. The Tar Heels (6-2) were sorry the Bearcats came. This was UC's first win over North Carolina after seven defeats, three of them under Huggins.

[logan]
Steve Logan
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        UC's game plan was to attack UNC center Brendan Haywood physically and to deny the penetration of point guard Ed Cota. Haywood scored 12 points but was not a factor on the boards, getting only two rebounds in 27 minutes. Cota passed for seven assists, nearly three under his average, and rarely drove past the foul line.

        “We didn't do anything we don't normally do,” coach Bob Huggins said. “I just think we can get so much better defensively than what we are.”

        UNC shot .406 from the field and only 3-of-11 in the second half from 3-point range. Cota turned over the ball four times. UC physically dominated the Heels before the break, gaining a 19-13 rebounding advantage.

[tate]
Jermaine Tate
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        The Bearcats managed to escape to halftime with only forward Jermaine Tate owning two personal fouls, which meant they did not get themselves into danger of disqualifying while muscling Haywood.

        For the final indignity of Haywood's half, Fletcher tossed him to the ground while rebounding a missed 3-pointer by Heels reserve Orlando Melendez. With UC up 43-31 at the break, Haywood had four points and one rebound.

        Guthridge determined at the break he was either going to draw Haywood out of his reticence or lose in the attempt. Three of the first four plays he called went directly to Haywood, and he wrapped two inside baskets around a 3-pointer from Max Owens to cut UC's lead to 43-38.

[fletcher]
Ryan Fletcher
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        As their offense sputtered in the early minutes of the second half — the Bearcats made just one of their first eight shots — that advantage was cut to two points with 12:42 left on a basket by Owens, who scored 18 points to lead the Heels. Fletcher's third 3-pointer stretched that back to multiple posses sions, starting a 10-3 UC surge that again made it a double-digit lead, 60-50.

        The Bearcats were uncharacteristically hurried at times. They did not so much fast break as rush to get the ball to the goal. Point guard Kenny Satterfield committed five turnovers, after giving up the ball only 11 times in the first five games.

        Guard Joseph Forte cut UC's lead to four points with just more than six minutes left, but UC doubled that by the 3:06 mark on three free throws from Mickeal. The Bearcats made eight of 10 free throws to avoid a collapse.

        Mickeal had promised to be more the sort of player he was as a junior than the one who'd shown up for the first five games. He scored nine points in the first half, more than in the entire Gonzaga game.

        Inside, Martin finished with four blocks. That doesn't count his two goaltends, one of which he went up and caught and brought to the floor.

        “The one I grabbed, that was just a statement,” Martin said. “I think it's a big deal for us to jump on somebody early, get the crowd into the game.”

No. 1 Bearcats offer clues about March Paul Daugherty column
Great Eight may be on last legs


CINCINNATI (77)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Mickeal         36  6-12  8-10   1-5  4  2   21
Fletcher        24   4-6   0-0   1-5  0  4   11
Martin          36  7-14   2-3   3-9  0  1   16
Johnson         31  7-13   0-0   3-6  2  2   14
Logan           23   0-2  7-10   1-3  4  2    7
Tate            12   1-1   1-3   1-3  0  5    3
Satterfield     28   0-4   0-0   0-5  7  1    0
Stokes           3   1-1   0-0   0-1  1  1    3
Little           7   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-54 18-26 10-37 18 19   77
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.692. 3-Point Goals:
5-11, .455 (Mickeal 1-2, Fletcher 3-4, Johnson
0-3, Logan 0-1, Stokes 1-1). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 5 (Martin 4, Tate). Turnovers: 15
(Satterfield 5, Fletcher 3, Logan 2, Johnson,
Little, Martin, Stokes, Tate). Steals: 5
(Fletcher 2, Johnson, Little, Satterfield).


NORTH CAROLINA (68)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Owens           32  7-13   0-0   0-2  2  3   18
Capel           34   0-9   2-3   4-6  0  4    2
Haywood         27  5-12   4-5   1-2  1  4   14
Cota            40   4-6   2-2   0-5  7  4   11
Forte           31  7-14   2-3   2-4  6  4   17
Brooker          1   0-0   0-0   1-2  0  1    0
Newby            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Melendez        12   0-2   0-0   0-1  2  0    0
Lang            17   3-7   0-0   1-3  0  3    6
Johnson          5   0-1   0-0   1-2  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 26-64 10-13 10-27 18 24   68
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.406, FT-.769. 3-Point Goals:
6-18, .333 (Owens 4-6, Capel 0-4, Cota 1-2, Forte
1-5, Melendez 0-1). Team rebounds: 7. Blocked
shots: 2 (Haywood, Lang). Turnovers: 13 (Capel 4,
Cota 4, Forte 3, Haywood, Owens). Steals: 5
(Melendez 2, Capel, Forte, Lang).
__________________________________
Cincinnati         43   34  -   77
North Carolina     31   37  -   68
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,463. Officials:
Rick Hartzell, Ken Clougherty, Curtis Shaw.

Miami 67, Xavier 59
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