Thursday, February 24, 2000

UC 95, Southern Miss 69

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Martin takes matters into his own hands

BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Kenyon Martin (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        Southern Mississippi did not get a full dose of the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Golden Eagles weren't stung by a single DerMarr Johnson 3-pointer and never were jammed along the baseline by Jermaine Tate or Donald Little. They saw plenty of Kenyon Martin, though, and that was more than they could handle.

        Martin needed only a little help to boost No.3 UC to a 95-69 victory Wednesday night over Southern Miss in a Conference USA game at the Shoemaker Center. He scored a career-high 33 points, nearly half USM's total. He grabbed 14 rebounds, more than half what the Golden Eagles managed as a team.

        “I had it going tonight, so I was going to shoot until I missed,” said Martin, 13-of-19 from the floor. “We were minus a couple players, so I had to step up.”

Martin breaks away after a steal. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        UC (25-2, 13-0) was shorthanded against Southern Miss (16-9, 6-7) be cause Johnson served a one-game suspension for what the NCAA deemed to be a violation of its rules on amateurism. Tate and Little were in uniform but never entered the game because coach Bob Huggins was not pleased with their efforts in pregame practices.

        “It's real simple here: if you don't do what you're supposed to do in practice, if you don't lay it out there in practice, you're not going to play,” Huggins said. “Fortunately, Kenyon knows that.”

        Martin made his first six shots from the floor, and his first miss was a 3-point attempt that barely rolled out of the goal.

        Martin still has never made a 3-pointer in his UC career — he's 0-for-5 — but managed just about everything else against the Golden Eagles.

        “It did everything but go in. Man. I wanted to shoot another, but I didn't get a chance to,” Martin said. “I've got how many games left? Three? I'll get another one.”

Pete Mickeal (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        After his next turnaround jumper rolled off the rim, he hit three more in a row and finished the half with 24 points. He went to the locker room just one rebound short of a double-double — with 20 minutes still to play.

        “I thought they were going to start doubling, but they didn't,” Martin said. “I know if somebody was busting me like that, I'm going to double down. I don't care if the coach tells me not to. I guess he figured I couldn't beat him by myself. I'll take what they give me.”

        In fact, USM coach James Green wanted to double-team Martin when he caught the ball, although Martin often made that difficult by catching the ball away from the basket.

        “We talked about going and doubling — that's how mesmerized we were,” Green said. “Even when talked about doing it, we didn't go and do it. ”

        The Bearcats appeared for the start of the game wearing headbands as a show of support for Johnson, who generally has one on when he plays.

        In this case, Johnson's headgear was a pea-green wool cap to match the pea-green sweater he wore with his blue jeans and work boots.

        He sat on the bench next to sophomore forward Eugene Land, who is redshirting this season.

        Sophomore Steve Logan started in Johnson's place, and he scored the Bearcats' first basket on a backdoor layup and finished with 16 points.

        The loss to Temple clearly inspired UC to pay greater attention to detail on offense.

        In the early minutes against Southern Miss, the Bearcats executed their attack more crisply than in any recent game.

        “They're the best basketball team I've faced since I've been at Southern Miss. They're com plete,” Green said. “We had some guys who had no idea what they were in for. We had guys who were up here before, but not to play a team like they did tonight.”

        Sharply criticized for his defensive effort against Temple forward Mark Karcher, forward Pete Mickeal did not allow USM's David Wall — the reigning C-USA player of the week — to attempt a shot in the first six minutes.

        Wall didn't score until he made consecutive 3-pointers in transition to cut UC's early lead to 15-10. He finished with 20 points, the majority coming when Mickeal rested or when Wall got loose on a fastbreak. Mickeal finished with three blocks, a career high, and also had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

        “We're going to be fine,” Huggins said. “We lose a game when they make more shots than they're going to make the rest of the year, but we just can't let people do that.

        “We're getting to the point where now, we're not playing for a conference championship any more. We're playing for a seed in the NCAA Tournament. We want to continue to do what we have to do to be seeded in the most advantageous position for us.”

Johnson serves suspension
Grove's hard work turns into minutes

SOUTHERN MISS (69)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Thompson        22   3-5   4-4   0-2  3  4   12
Wall            30  8-16   2-5   0-2  0  3   20
Booker          22   2-7   0-0   0-0  1  3    4
Flowers         24   0-2   0-1   0-2  1  3    0
Cauthen         25   0-2   0-0   0-4  4  2    0
Terrell         11   3-4   2-4   0-0  2  0    9
Myles           18   1-1   0-0   0-1  0  0    2
Brinkley         9   1-2   2-2   0-1  0  2    5
Jones           24   3-7   2-2   0-6  1  2    8
Henderson       13   3-7   2-2   1-3  0  3    8
M Carter         2   0-1   1-2   0-0  0  0    1
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-54 15-22  1-21 12 22   69
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.444, FT-.682. 3-Point Goals:
6-14, .429 (Thompson 2-3, Wall 2-5, Booker 0-1,
Terrell 1-2, Brinkley 1-1, Jones 0-1, M Carter
0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 6
(Thompson 2, Booker, Flowers, Myles, Jones).
Turnovers: 18 (Booker 4, Wall 4, Terrell 3,
Cauthen 2, Flowers 2, Henderson 2, Thompson).
Steals: 3 (Cauthen, Flowers, Myles).

CINCINNATI (95)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Fletcher        30   2-5   3-4   1-5  3  2    7
Mickeal         34   4-9  8-10  4-10  2  3   18
Martin          33 13-19   7-9  3-14  0  3   33
Satterfield     30  3-11   3-4   2-5  7  3    9
Logan           31  6-11   2-2   0-2  2  2   16
Stokes          20   1-4   4-4   0-1  2  2    6
Dissinger        2   1-2   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Taflinger        2   0-2   0-0   1-2  0  3    0
Grove           18   2-8   0-0   3-5  0  1    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 32-71 27-33 14-44 16 19   95
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.451, FT-.818. 3-Point Goals:
4-12, .333 (Fletcher 0-1, Mickeal 2-2, Martin
0-1, Satterfield 0-1, Logan 2-5, Stokes 0-1,
Dissinger 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots:
7 (Mickeal 3, Martin 3, Logan). Turnovers: 10
(Mickeal 4, Satterfield 3, Logan, Martin,
Stokes). Steals: 6 (Martin 2, Satterfield 2,
Grove, Mickeal).
__________________________________
Southern Miss      29   40  -   69
Cincinnati         46   49  -   95
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,176. Officials: Ed
Hightower, Mark Whitehead, Eddie Jackson.

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