Wendy Haun
CINCINNATI — There’s at least one person who never considered Eastern Kentucky University an easy win.
After the Cincinnati Enquirer featured a story in Saturday’s edition which labeled the Colonels a cupcake in the headline, Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin emphatically dismissed that characterization after his team almost fell in overtime.
“Despite what the Cincinnati Enquirer headline people want to write, Eastern Kentucky was 7-3 coming in,” Cronin said. “The Cincinnati Enquirer people insulted Eastern Kentucky when they have a good team. You have to give another team credit.”
EKU senior Mike Rose hit two clutch free throws with 4.6 seconds left to give EKU a two-point advantage, but it only took 4.5 seconds for Cincinnati freshman Yancy Gates to grab a dish from junior Deonta Vaughn and throw down a dunk that tied the game.
The Colonels would go on to lose in overtime, 85-77, Saturday at the Fifth Third Arena.
“They got the ball to Deonta Vaughn and that was the first thing — we were trying to keep it away from him,” EKU coach Jeff Neubauer said. “They had a good wrinkle to get it to him. That wasn’t the main problem. The main problem was the big guy behind the rim. We did not guard him well enough. If we give up a 15-foot floater, that’s something that’s a little easier to live with than giving up a dunk like that.”
The Colonels (7-4) started out a little sluggish, allowing the Bearcats to build a five-point lead early. However, they took the lead on a three-pointer from Rose with 14:30 and held that advantage for almost 33 minutes, building it to 15 at one point in the first half.
Solid play down the stretch in the first half by Cincinnati senior Mike Williams, freshman Dion Dixon and Vaughn helped cut the deficit to four points at half, 36-32.
“When you come into a Big East environment, you know they’re going to make a run,” Neubauer said. “You know it’s going to be a tight game. We weren’t going to walk into Cincinnati and walk out with a double-figure win. You have to sneak one out. We knew it was going to be a close game in the end.”
EKU came out in the second half and built back up their lead, getting the advantage back to nine with 11:05 left on a jump shot by sophomore Justin Stommes. Then, the tide started to turn. After cutting the lead to six, the Bearcats (9-2) hit four consecutive free throws to cut the lead to two, which was the closest they had been since the beginning of the first half.
Then, with 1:52 left, Larry Davis hit a three that gave the Bearcats a one-point lead, 70-69, and sparked the crowd of 6,163 mostly-Cincinnati fans.
“We always want to win but everyone gave a good effort,” Rose said. “The fact that we fought like we did so hard, it’s a loss we have to take right now. They turned the intensity up in the second half. We had a couple of turnovers that we could have taken back but our turnovers are what led to their quick buckets.”
With the crowd behind them, Cincinnati outscored EKU, 12-4, in overtime. Lewis hit a layup to get EKU within two with 3:40 left, but Cincinnati scored eight-straight points to seal the victory and breathe a sigh of relief.
“Our guys did everything they possibly could and they were good enough to win this game,” Neubauer said. “We had great contributions off the bench. We played with great energy. Our guys did believe we could win the game and they were good enough. Obviously, Cincinnati is a very well-coached team and they did take advantage and finish the right way.”
Rose was the game-high scorer, with 25 points off of 7-of-17 shooting. Freshman Jorge Camacho continued his string of solid bench performances with a career-high 12 points off 5-of-7 shooting and Lewis had 11 points, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.
“Mike (Lewis) is a really quick, fast guard,” Neubauer said. “He can not only get into the lane with his speed, but he’s also a very good shooter. His quickness and speed is something special and it allowed us to compete here tonight. For Jorge to step in, with two assists, no turnovers and 12 points in this Big East environment and play that well, it’s something we can be really proud of.”
This loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the Colonels, who have won six of their last eight. They will face off against Indiana-Northwest Monday at 7 p.m. at McBrayer Arena for their final game of 2008. Despite the close loss, Neubauer said he still sees this team as incredibly successful thus far this season.
“I do believe that in leagues like ours, you have to be successful early in the year if you’re going to be successful late,” he said. “Our team has already been successful against Akron and Ball State. This would have added to that. This would have been another great step. We’re going to learn from it. It doesn’t feel as good right now as it would have but we’ll learn and we’ll be a better team for it.”
