By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Marquette's Dwayne Wade drives through Cincinnati's Eric Hicks. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

MILWAUKEE - They had come 18,790 strong to the Bradley Center on a snowy Saturday afternoon to celebrate, hoping to see Marquette secure its first Conference USA championship with a win over the very University of Cincinnati team they were dethroning.

Eventually, the crowd was rewarded with a huge celebration, right down to the confetti, but the physically overmatched Bearcats made them squirm for a while.

UC led by nine midway through the first half, by four at halftime, and was within three points with 3:40 to go but finally succumbed to too much Dwyane Wade and its own continuing shooting woes, falling to No. 8 Marquette, 70-61.

"That's what made it sweet, that we beat Cincinnati, the team that won the championship seven times in a row," Wade said. "They came into our house and we beat them."

The loss eliminated the Bearcats (17-10, 9-7 Conference USA) from a first-round bye in next week's conference tournament because Saint Louis finished with a better American Division record than UC. The Bearcats will play their first game Wednesday at Freedom Hall as the No. 5 seed against No. 12 Southern Mississippi (12-15, 5-11) at 9:30 p.m.

UC competed with the Golden Eagles more forcefully than in their first meeting in Cincinnati on Feb. 1, even though the margin of defeat was three points larger the second time around.

"We could have won the game," UC coach Bob Huggins said. "But we didn't make any shots. We've got 10 losses. I can probably tell you that about eight or nine of them."

UC made plenty of shots in the first half. The Bearcats' half-court offense was golden as UC connected on six of 11 3-pointers and shot 50 percent overall.

But it turned into fool's gold in the second half when UC shot a more familiar 39.3 percent.

Marquette (23-4, 14-2) simply had too much firepower, with four players scoring in double figures. The Golden Eagles shot 60 percent in the second half and scored 41 points.

Marquette fans and players celebrate a conference championship. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

"They hit some tough shots," said UC guard Tony Bobbitt, who led UC with 13 points off the bench. "But if you leave people wide open, they're going to knock them down."

Wade, a junior guard and frontrunner for conference player of the year, took over in the second half, finishing with 26 points and 10 rebounds. He scored nine points at the outset of the second half when the Golden Eagles wiped out UC's modest halftime advantage. Marquette took the lead for the first time on Robert Jackson's lay-up with 17:01 to go and never relinquished it.

UC was outrebounded 36-23 and made only five of 11 free throws. The Bearcats missed four straight free throws early in the second half when they were within striking distance of the Golden Eagles.

First senior guard Taron Barker missed two free throws with 15:17 to go and UC trailing, 40-37. Then Leonard Stokes, who scored 10 points in his last UC regular-season game, missed two more with UC trailing 43-39 at the 13:05 mark.

"I think the momentum of the game changed when we stood up there and missed four consecutive free throws," Huggins said. "I think that's demoralizing. That's why they call them free. You've got your two seniors up there, the guys who have been through it before. I think that changes games more than any blocked shot or turnover or anything else."

The Bearcats made one final run after falling behind 56-49 with 7:12 to go. Bobbitt and Armein Kirkland both made 3-pointers, and another Kirkland basket with 3:40 to go brought them to within 64-61.

But two free throws by Jackson and a baseline jump shot by Wade, who fell down as he shot, sealed the win and the conference championship for Marquette.

"I knew we had them on the run (in the first half)," Kirkland said. "But a team like that is hard to blow out. They're going to fight back."

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

Cincinnati	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Stokes	39	5	13	0	2	3	7	3	4	10
Maxiell	27	4	7	0	1	8	1	4	1	8
Hollman	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
Williams	18	1	7	0	0	2	0	1	1	3
Barker	36	3	6	0	2	3	4	1	4	9
Moore	3	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	1	3
Hicks	17	2	3	0	0	1	0	2	0	4
Bobbitt	21	4	8	4	4	0	1	4	0	13
Kirkland	26	4	9	0	0	1	1	5	1	11
Johnson	7	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0
Totals	200	24	54	5	11	23	14	24	12	61

Team rebounds - 4.

Marquette	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Townsend	31	0	2	1	2	3	3	0	1	1
Merritt	29	4	8	4	5	4	4	3	2	12
Jackson	33	6	13	5	8	9	0	3	2	17
Wade	34	8	14	10	12	10	5	1	4	26
Diener	34	2	5	4	5	2	3	2	1	10
Novak	13	1	2	0	0	1	2	4	1	2
Chapman	12	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	2
Grimm	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Sanders	13	0	2	0	0	3	0	1	1	0
Totals	200	22	47	24	32	36	17	14	14	70

Team rebounds - 3.

Cincinnati	33	28	-61
Marquette	29	41	-70

3-pointers - UC 8-16 (Stokes 0-1, Williams 1-4, Barker 3-5, Bobbitt 1-3, Kirkland 3-3), M 2-6 (Townsend 0-2, Diener 2-4). Technicals - None. Officials - Hartzell, O'Neill, Mathis. Attendance - 18,790.