Friday, March 03, 2000

UC 64, DePaul 62

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Martin brings Bearcats back from the dead

BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Kenyon Martin slides between two defenders to hit the tying basket. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        ROSEMONT, Ill. — The clock at the Allstate Arena read 3:46 as the Cincinnati Bearcats gathered around coach Bob Huggins. The scoreboard told the DePaul fans in the standing-room-only crowd exactly what they wanted to hear, that the Blue Demons led the nation's No. 2-ranked team by 10 points.

        Huggins' message during that timeout was simple: get the ball to Kenyon Martin. It was the kind of strategy only the coach of college basketball's soon-to-be player of the year can employ with such confidence.

        It worked — Martin scored four consecutive baskets for UC, produced 10 of his career-high 33 points following that timeout and assisted on the basket by freshman guard DerMarr Johnson with 2.7 seconds left that gave UC a 64-62 victory.

Martin drives on Lance Williams. | ZOOM |

        Without benched starter Pete Mickeal, the Bearcats won a game that may be remembered as the highlight of the 1999-2000 regular season.

        “He's the best player in the country,” senior forward Jermaine Tate said of Martin. “That's what you expect of him.”

        Martin scored 21 second-half points to help rescue Cincinnati (26-2, 15-0) from a 17-point deficit, the largest it had faced this season. The Bearcats trailed at halftime for only the third time and won despite allowing DePaul (18-10, 8-7) to shoot .533 from the field.

        Martin scored four consecutive baskets for the Bearcats to cut their deficit to four points with 2:08 left. UC made three straight stops, with a steal, a shot-clock violation and a block by Martin on De Paul's Paul McPherson. When Johnson was fouled attempting a dunk and made two free throws, UC trailed by two.

Martin blocks. | ZOOM |

        Martin blocked another shot to give UC a chance to tie, then scored on a turnaround jumper over 6-foot-9 Lance Williams to tie the game at 60 with 1:10 left.

        “When (Huggins) told them to get me the ball,” Martin said, “I just did something with it every time.”

        UC tried to trap McPherson on the right wing on the next DePaul trip, but he found Wil liams under the goal for a dunk and a two-point lead. UC called timeout with 47 seconds left.

        The Bearcats struggled to find an open shot. But with the shot clock under five, Martin beat two defenders and shot over a third for a banked layup that tied it with 22 seconds left.

        DePaul set a screen at the top of the key as it worked toward a final shot, and Tate read the play and stepped out to steal a pass by point guard Rashon Burno. He handed the ball to Martin after failing in his attempt to find a Bearcats guard.

Leonard Stokes shoots over Kerry Hartfield. | ZOOM |

        Martin passed the ball to Johnson, whose 15-foot jumper dropped through the goal with 2.7 seconds left.

        He'd made free throws before to win a game, but never a jump shot.

        “I wasn't aware of the time,” Johnson said. “When Kenyon passed it to me, I thought they were going to jump out to me, and I was going to pass it right back to Kenyon. But they just let me shoot.”

        DePaul got the ball to forward Quentin Richardson to attempt a last-second shot, but he fumbled it after crossing halfcourt. He tossed a 3-pointer through the goal, but it was launched after the buzzer.

        “It's very deflating for us, to have them like that the whole game,” Richardson said. “We led from tap to finish.”

Ryan Fletcher boxes out Bobby Simmons. | ZOOM |

        When the starting lineups were announced before the game, Mickeal's name was included.

        Huggins did not suspend Mickeal but decided to bench him against the Blue Demons. Huggins termed it a “coach's decision.” Mickeal, a 6-6 senior, had started the 61 previous games in the last two seasons.

        Since a stellar performance against DePaul Feb.13 in which he scored 12 points and held Richardson to seven on 3-of-13 shooting, Mickeal has struggled. He was pulled with five minutes remaining in the Louisville game and, after a short exchange with Huggins, sat with a towel over his head until the game ended.

        Without Mickeal against DePaul, UC's defense was in disarray. The Bearcats gave up five 3-pointers in the first 12 minutes and trailed 36-29 at the break.

Bob Huggins implores the Bearcats in the first half. | ZOOM |

        It only got worse following the break. DePaul scored on five of its first six possessions, with point guard Rashon Burno nailing a 3-pointer when Satterfield left him to double-team Richardson in the post. That basket made it a 46-31 Blue Demons lead. A Williams jump-hook made it a 16-point game two minutes later. And Richardson followed that with a 3-pointer to make it a 17-point cushion for DePaul.

        The Bearcats bench was a cacophony of frustration when a TV timeout was called with 15:27 left. On the floor, they picked up six team fouls in the first seven minutes, including three on one possession. The Blue Demons were in the bonus with 12:14 remaining.

        Somewhere in this confusion, UC remembered it was a team. The Bearcats shifted through a variety of defenses and put together seven consecutive stops, and they rallied behind Satterfield's five points and a 3-pointer from Logan to a seven-point deficit with 10 minutes left.

Martin hopes bench helps Mickeal's focus
UC won't take Harper even after charges dismissed
UC 64, DePaul 62

CINCINNATI (64)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Johnson         20   3-7   3-4   1-2  0  4   10
Tate            22   0-2   0-0   2-3  0  4    0
Martin          35 13-22   6-9   5-9  2  2   33
Satterfield     39   3-9   1-3   2-9  4  2    7
Logan           36   1-8   1-2   0-1  3  1    4
Stokes           6   0-1   0-0   0-0  1  1    0
Fletcher        21   1-1   2-3   3-5  0  2    4
Grove            6   2-5   2-5   1-1  0  1    6
Little          15   0-0   0-0   0-2  1  2    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-55 15-26 14-32 11 19   64
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.418, FT-.577. 3-Point Goals:
3-13, .231 (Johnson 1-4, Martin 1-2, Satterfield
0-2, Logan 1-5). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots:
4 (Martin 2, Little 2). Turnovers: 12 (Tate 4,
Satterfield 3, Fletcher 2, Little, Logan,
Martin). Steals: 10 (Johnson 3, Martin 2,
Satterfield 2, Fletcher, Logan, Tate).

DEPAUL (62)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Mcpherson       22   4-6   0-1   1-3  3  4    8
Simmons         36   3-9   1-5   3-8  2  3    8
Williams        34   6-8   2-2   0-3  0  3   14
Richardson      37  6-10   1-5  3-11  3  3   17
R Burno         38   2-6   2-2   0-1  7  2    7
Avery            6   0-0   0-0   1-1  2  3    0
Hartfield       18   2-5   0-0   0-0  2  0    6
Baker            2   0-0   0-0   0-0  1  0    0
Hunter           7   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-45  6-15  8-27 20 19   62
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.533, FT-.400. 3-Point Goals:
8-20, .400 (Mcpherson 0-1, Simmons 1-4,
Richardson 4-6, R Burno 1-4, Hartfield 2-5). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 1 (Avery). Turnovers:
17 (R Burno 4, Mcpherson 3, Avery 2, Hartfield 2,
Simmons 2, Hunter, Richardson, Williams). Steals:
6 (R Burno 4, Hartfield, Richardson).
__________________________________
Cincinnati         29   35  -   64
Depaul             36   26  -   62
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 18,253. Officials: Ted
Hillary, Ed Hightower, Tom Rucker.

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