Bearcats overcome hot-shooting Cleveland State/ Tom Groeschen
Barring a superhuman effort by Cleveland State, the No. 20-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats figured to post a runaway victory Thursday night.
UC was a 28-point favorite entering the game, but instead ran into a CSU team that indeed played magnificent basketball. For about 35 minutes, anyway. The Vikings shot 68.4 percent from the field in the first half and kept it close most of the night, but UC shot well itself and posted an 81-62 win. A crowd of 7,988 watched at Northern Kentucky University's BB&T Arena.
UC (11-2) was led by senior forward Gary Clark with 18 points and five rebounds. Sophomore shooting guard Jarron Cumberland scored 16 points, and senior forward Kyle Washington had 14 points and nine rebounds. Washington also scored his 1,000th career point, including two years at North Carolina State and one-plus years at UC.
"They played hard and they were ready to play," Washington said. "We were ready to play, but they were just hitting shots. We just had to weather the storm. I thought it was a good test for us. We finally started breaking through."
Cleveland State (3-8) was led by freshman guard Tyree Appleby with 16 points. After its nearly 70 percent shooting in the first half, the Vikings made only 37 percent after halftime.
UC wound up out-shooting CSU overall, 54 percent to 50 percent. The Bearcats' size also took an eventual toll, as UC out-rebounded CSU 34-18 and held a 48-24 advantage on points in t