Friday, February 18, 2000

UC 77, Houston 65

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Bearcats clinch league but lack life

BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Pete Mickeal is fouled by Houston's Kenny Younger. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

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        HOUSTON — The only celebrating was done in the audience. None of the Cincinnati Bearcats even forced a smile upon claiming the regular-season championship of Conference USA with a 77-65 victory Thursday night over Houston.

        They've done this before of course, four times in the four previous years the league operated, and the others were completed in much grander style.

        This was a dispassionate effort from a distracted team looking forward to serious competition from Temple on Sunday. The Bearcats allowed a lead that was as large as 20 points to slide to seven twice in the final 10 minutes.

        “We know we played bad down the stretch,” said UC center Kenyon Martin. “That's what was in in our minds. I think we lost a lot of our intensity that we had early. When we're up big, we're supposed to win big.”

Kenyon Martin had 26 points, 17 rebounds. | ZOOM |

        The fans at Hofheinz Pavilion were so pleased their last-place Cougars (8-16, 2-9) had come within a dozen points of the No. 1-ranked Bearcats (24-1, 12-0), they screeched with joy and directed chants of “overrated” at UC.

        Although he did not score for nearly eight minutes of the first half, Martin already had a double-double at the break. He finished with 26 points and 17 rebounds. With an average night at the free-throw line — he was 8-of-18 — he would have had his second career 30-point game.

        Houston guard Gee Gervin, the leading scorer in C-USA, had eight points at halftime and was only 2-of-9 from the field, but he relocated his confidence in the second half and scored 26 points to make the game competitive.

        “What happened? Gee Gervin happened,” Martin said. “He made a lot of shots. He made a lot of big shots.”

DerMarr Johnson blocks Marcus Oliver's shot. | ZOOM |

        The Bearcats survived a poor shooting night from forward Pete Mickeal and guard Steve Logan. Mickeal was 0-of-9 from the field. Logan was 3-of-11, missing all four of his shots inside the 3-point line.

        There probably are easier ways for a team to win a conference championship than the manner in which the Bearcats won their fifth consecutive C-USA title. A forfeit, maybe.

        What UC did to win the league was travel to Houston, sit around the hotel, look over the scouting report and then check the scores on ESPN to learn that Saint Louis had lost badly to Southern Mississippi. It was that simple.

        With SLU's loss, every league team but the Bearcats had five defeats, which was the most they could accumulate even if they lost every remaining game. They took care of that possibility quickly against Houston.

Ryan Fletcher battles for a rebound. | ZOOM |

        Coach Clyde Drexler set his Cougars in a 2-3 zone, and freshman guard DerMarr Johnson shot them out of it in less than two minutes. He nailed 3-pointers on UC's first two possessions, then finished a fast break with a stunning reverse layup that put the Bearcats ahead 8-0 on the way to a 46-28 halftime lead. Johnson finished with 19 points.

        Drexler dumped the zone al most immediately, but too late for it to matter in the first half. That early lead cushioned the Bearcats throughout the first half, and still was in place when the Cougars began to charge late in the game.

        Huggins knew he would have to stay on the Bearcats to squeeze a passable effort from them, with Houston one of the few non-competitive teams in the league and the Temple Owls waiting for them Sunday.

        There wasn't a timeout during the first half when he did not deliver an impassioned speech designed to get the Bearcats to play harder. Their halftime lead was just one basket shy of their largest lead before the break, but Huggins was not satisfied.

        With good reason. The Bearcats were less effective in the second half than they were in the first. The lead was cut to 65-58, which caused Huggins to call a timeout filled with genuine concern.

        “I think our team showed a lot of heart,” Drexler said.

        Martin refused to permit a continued Cougars comeback, however. The Bearcats forced six consecutive stops — UH did not score for more than four minutes — and he scored seven points in a row lift the lead back to 72-58.

        “The conference championship was expected of us,” Johnson said. “It was really no big deal. I didn't know until you said it.”

Seniors not too excited
Even Martin needs a hand to hold onto Paul Daugherty column
Temple revs up for UC

CINCINNATI (77)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Tate            22   3-5   1-2   2-5  1  3    7
Mickeal         36   0-9   1-2   2-8  1  4    1
Martin          34  9-12  8-18  4-17  2  1   26
Johnson         32  8-14   0-0   3-6  1  1   19
Satterfield     26   2-7   2-2   1-3  4  2    6
Stokes           8   1-1   0-1   0-2  2  2    2
Logan           18  3-11   0-1   0-2  1  2    9
Fletcher        22   2-8   3-4  3-10  1  2    7
Little           2   0-0   0-1   0-0  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 28-67 15-31 15-53 13 17   77
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.418, FT-.484. 3-Point Goals:
6-18, .333 (Mickeal 0-3, Johnson 3-7, Logan 3-7,
Fletcher 0-1). Team rebounds: None. Blocked
shots: 8 (Martin 5, Johnson, Satterfield,
Fletcher). Turnovers: 11 (Satterfield 3, Fletcher
2, Martin 2, Johnson, Mickeal, Stokes, Tate).
Steals: 8 (Mickeal 3, Johnson 2, Logan, Martin,
Satterfield).

HOUSTON (65)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Williams        34  5-11   1-3  1-10  2  4   11
Younger         38  4-10   2-2  2-10  2  5   11
E Smith         16   1-3   0-1   3-8  0  3    2
Oliver           7   0-3   0-0   1-1  0  1    0
Gervin          31 10-24   4-5   0-4  1  3   26
Spears          31  5-13   2-2   0-5  6  1   13
Botts            3   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
B Smith          5   0-2   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Hendrick         8   0-1   0-0   0-2  0  1    0
Ballis          21   1-2   0-0   1-1  0  5    2
Moceanu          6   0-0   0-0   1-2  0  3    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 26-70  9-13  9-43 11 27   65
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.371, FT-.692. 3-Point Goals:
4-11, .364 (Williams 0-1, Younger 1-1, Oliver
0-1, Gervin 2-6, Spears 1-1, Hendrick 0-1). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 3 (Williams, Younger,
Botts). Turnovers: 11 (Williams 2, B Smith,
Ballis, Botts, E Smith, Gervin, Hendrick,
Moceanu, Spears, Younger). Steals: 5 (E Smith,
Gervin, Hendrick, Spears, Younger).
__________________________________
Cincinnati         46   31  -   77
Houston            28   37  -   65
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 8,917. Officials: Ken
Clougherty, Ed Hightower, Tom Rucker.

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