Sunday, March 05, 2000

UC poised to reclaim No. 1

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Mickeal's turn to smile in tournament sendoff

BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Senior Pete Mickeal, exulting as he leaves his final home game, redeemed himself from Thursday's benching. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        The day before, he said he never shows emotion. Well, maybe this one time.

        On Senior Night for the Cincinnati Bearcats, in the last real game he will ever play in the Shoemaker Center, it was OK for Pete Mickeal to smile, to wink at Oscar Robertson in his courtside seat, to wave his arms to the sky to draw some of that pent-up enthusiasm from the Shoemaker Center crowd.

        “That was for the crowd,” Mickeal said. “I think they appreciated me, and actually I needed all the support I could get tonight, and I got it.

        “I loved when they called my name, said "Peeeeete.' That's the best feeling you can have.”

        Mickeal scored 21 points for UC in its 84-41 victory over Saint Louis, a win that delivered the No. 2-ranked Bearcats (28-2) a perfect 16-0 regular season in Conference USA and is likely to lift them back to the top position in the wire-service polls. Senior center Kenyon Martin scored 23 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots.

Mickeal banging. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        In a marked departure from UC's win six days earlier over Louisville, the Bearcats beat Saint Louis (15-13, 7-9) by a wider margin in the second half than in the first. It was Saint Louis' worst defeat since 1946.

        There was plenty of time and a wide enough cushion for Mickeal, Martin and fellow seniors Jermaine Tate and Ryan Fletcher to be re moved from the game, one by one, to be applauded by fans at the Shoe.

        “To finish out the way we did, win by 40, I don't know a better way to do it,” Fletcher said. “It's been good to me to play here, I enjoyed it, and this was the way I wanted to go out.”

        There still were 12 minutes to play when Mickeal set aside his customary stoicism for a moment of joy in a week when, up until five minutes after tip-off Saturday, there had been far too few.

        He was benched for Thursday's victory against DePaul for reasons never fully explained. He was held from the starting lineup of this game for “not completing his academic responsibilities in a timely manner.”

An emotional Kenyon Martin hugs coach Bob Huggins in pre-game ceremonies. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        Upon arriving on the floor with 15:38 left, Mickeal was reminded often by his teammates how much he means to the Bearcats. They looked to him whenever possible, and coach Bob Huggins called several sets designed for Mickeal to score. He rewarded the extra attention by making 6-of-9 from the field and 9-of-10 free throws.

        When UC wasn't giving Mickeal the ball, he was taking it from the Billikens. He matched his career high with five steals. He again tortured their gifted shooting guard, Justin Love, who scored 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting and didn't get five of those until Mickeal had been called to the bench for a warm standing ovation.

        He waved his arms then, too, as the crowd chanted his name. A lot can change in 48 hours.

Jermaine Tate. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        “It's behind me,” Mickeal said. “It was behind me when I stood up to walk into the game and the crowd gave me that ovation. That got me ready.

        “Coach has been behind me since we got into ... whatever we got into, had our little conflict. He's still behind me. And the guys have always been with me. The guys have been keeping my head up.”

        The Bearcats didn't shoot especially well at the start but led 41-21 at halftime.

        Martin scored eight points and made half his six shots by the time he committed his second personal foul.

        When Martin went to the bench, his teammates took that as a signal to increase their own efforts. UC scored on its next four trips, a different player each time, and built their lead to 23-11.

        Mickeal took advantage of his four-inch edge on Love to score quickly on a post-up, and that was followed by a power basket from Jermaine Tate and two free throws each from DerMarr Johnson and Ryan Fletcher.

DerMarr Johnson (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        Mickeal was not done with Love. UC isolated him inside and fed Mickeal the ball on three consecutive halfcourt possessions, and he scored six points in an 8-2 Bearcats surge that made it 31-19.

        Romar switched the matchups at that point. Mickeal scored another nine in the second half, anyway.

        “They always said they want to see the old Pete,” Mickeal said. “I guess you did tonight.”

Stop and enjoy this not-so-regular season Sullivan column
Next: So. Miss or St. Louis
Auld Lang Syne for seniors
10 Questions with Oscar Robertson
Handicapping the NCAA field
No. 1 Stanford loses to UCLA
UC women lose C-USA quarterfinal

ST LOUIS (41)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Baniak          17   4-5   0-0   1-3  0  4    8
Jeffers         28   2-6   0-0   0-6  1  4    4
Heinrich        28  4-10   0-0   6-7  1  4    8
Love            27  4-12   0-0   1-4  1  2   11
Fergerson       34   1-8   0-0   0-4  3  1    3
Robertson       11   0-1   0-0   0-0  1  2    0
Redden          19   0-0   1-2   1-3  2  2    1
Latimer         11   0-5   2-2   0-0  0  2    2
Diener           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Simmons          3   1-2   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Tatum           13   1-3   0-1   0-1  0  2    2
Braun            8   0-3   0-0   2-3  1  2    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 17-55   3-5 11-31 10 25   41
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.309, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals:
4-17, .235 (Jeffers 0-1, Love 3-7, Fergerson 1-5,
Robertson 0-1, Latimer 0-2, Simmons 0-1). Team
rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 6 (Baniak 3, Jeffers,
Fergerson, Tatum). Turnovers: 26 (Fergerson 6,
Redden 6, Love 4, Jeffers 3, Tatum 2, Baniak,
Heinrich, Robertson, Simmons). Steals: 5
(Fergerson 2, Heinrich, Jeffers, Tatum).

CINCINNATI (84)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Tate            27   1-5   0-2   3-6  2  3    2
Logan           25   3-6   2-2   0-1  4  2    9
Martin          26  8-13   6-9   2-8  1  3   23
Johnson         30   4-8   3-3   1-4  0  2   13
Satterfield     34   4-8   0-0   2-2  6  0    8
Fletcher        18   1-4   3-3   1-4  1  4    5
Mickeal         28   6-9  9-10   0-4  2  1   21
Taflinger        1   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Grove            4   0-3   0-0   0-2  0  0    0
Little           7   0-1   1-2   2-4  0  0    1
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 28-58 24-31 11-35 16 15   84
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.483, FT-.774. 3-Point Goals:
4-9, .444 (Logan 1-3, Martin 1-2, Johnson 2-3,
Fletcher 0-1). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 8
(Martin 3, Mickeal 3, Johnson, Grove). Turnovers:
11 (Fletcher 3, Satterfield 3, Martin 2, Johnson,
Logan, Mickeal). Steals: 11 (Mickeal 5, Logan 2,
Martin 2, Johnson, Tate).
__________________________________
St Louis           21   20  -   41
Cincinnati         41   43  -   84
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,176. Officials:
Larry Ware, R Randall, Gary Allen.

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