Cincinnati Survives Dayton Scare
Having survived four frantic seconds under Dayton's basket, No. 4 Cincinnati then had to endure some truly terrifying minutes in their own locker room.
"We got the usual Bob Huggins Show," guard Melvin Levett said after the Bearcats' coach ripped into his team following a 53-51 win over Dayton in the second game of the Rock-n-Roll Shootout.
Kenyon Martin forced an altered shot and blocked another in the final four seconds for the Bearcats (11-0), who despite being unimpressive are still unbeaten and off to the fourth best start in school history.
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"It was disappointing to play so bad," Cincinnati's Ryan Fletcher said. "The feeling in the locker room was first relief and then a little nervousness about practice tomorrow. We're not looking forward to it after the speech we just got."
Huggins is sure to work his team hard after the Bearcats were outhustled by the Flyers.
"I'm trying to think of something nice to say about us," the fiery Huggins said. "We were lethargic. We missed 10 layups right away and got nothing from the bench."
Martin forced Tony Stanley to shoot long with four seconds remaining and then rejected Stanley in the final second as Cincinnati beat Dayton (4-5) for the ninth straight time and gave the Gund Arena crowd of 15,440 its second thrilling game of the afternoon.
In the opener, Theo Dixon's 18-foot jumper at the buzzer gave Cleveland State a 73-72 win over Rhode Island.
Cincinnati, coming off a 115-point performance in its last win, struggled from the perimeter the entire game against Dayton, which has lost four of its last five games by a total of nine points.
"We're playing better and better but we have to win one of these," Dayton coach Oliver Purnell said.
Martin had 18 points and 13 rebounds, ad Pete Mickeal added 13 points - 11 in the second half - for Cincinnati.
Mickeal, a junior college transfer, extended his personal winning streak to 83 games, dating to the fifth game of his freshman season. Levett, a Cleveland native playing before a large contingent of family and friends, shot only 1-of-10 from the field but made a big block with 15 seconds remaining for the Bearcats.
"They didn't surprise us," Mickeal said of Dayton. "This was a game that could have put them on the map. They played well and we did not."
Stanley scored 16 points to lead Dayton, which did a nice job of handling Cincinnati's pressure defense throughout but didn't score a field goal in the final 4:31 as the Bearcats swarmed to the ball. Mark Ashman's two free throws with 2;27 left gave Dayton a 51-50 lead, but Martin dropped a turnaround baseline jumper with 1:32 remaining to put the Bearcats back up.
Edwin Young missed a shot in the lane on Dayton's next possession, but the Flyers got the ball back when Yuanta Holland tied up Fletcher with 38 seconds to play.
Stanley got free down the left side and looked like he would put the Flyers ahead, but Levett raced over to swat away his shot with 15 seconds left.
"Levett came out of nowhere for that one," Purnell said.
Mickeal was fouled and made the second free throw to give Cincinnati a 53-51 lead with 13 seconds to play before Dayton called time to set up a final play.
Stanley drove the right side, but with Martin coming at him, had to shoot high off the glass. The rebound was batted around in the lane to Stanley, who had his game-tying attempt just before the buzzer blocked by Martin.
"At that point, I was just going after everything," Martin said.
Cincinnati shot only 29 percent (10-of-35) in the first half and only 34 percent for the game.
In the opener, Antonio Reynolds-Dean hit two free throws with 5.7 seconds left to give Rhode Island (6-5) a 72-71 lead. Dixon then drove downcourt and drilled his shot from the top of the key to conclude a sloppy first meeting between the schools.
Dixon had 21 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Vikings (6-4).
The game matched Rhode Island coach Jim Harrick against Cleveland State's Rollie Massimino, two of only eight active coaches to win NCAA titles.
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