ST. LOUIS - Cincinnati shot 53.3 percent from threeland and cruised past Saint Louis 66-56 tonight in a Conference USA game at Savvis Center. UC senior guard Leonard Stokes poured in 25 points as the Bearcats (10-3, 3-0) posted their fifth straight win overall and remained unbeaten in conference play.
"We didn't do enough of the little things to win against a quality team like Cincinnati," said Billiken assistant coach Anthony Beane, who took over the reins on the SLU bench for ailing head coach Brad Soderberg. "We came out with purpose and played well in the first half, but we seemed to come out flat at the beginning of the second half. Meanwhile, Cincinnati's seniors raised their level of play and showed that they know how to win on the road."
The Billikens jumped on Cincinnati and built first-half leads of 9-2 and 18-11. Stokes had two buckets sandwiched around Tony Bobbitt's trey to fuel a 9-0 run to capture UC's first lead at 20-18 with 9:43 remaining in the half.
Billikens senior guard Drew Diener responded with a trey and fellow senior Chris Braun drained a jumper as SLU climbed back on top 23-20. UC guards Taron Barker and Field Williams drilled back-to-back triples, and SLU guard Josh Fisher fired back with a trey and it was tied at 26 with 4:50 remaining. Barker banged home another trey to give UC a 31-28 edge at the 1:34 mark, and the 'Cats never trailed again. Cincinnati took a 33-30 lead to the locker room.
Cincinnati smothered the Billiken offense at the beginning of the second half and scored six unanswered points, before SLU freshman guard Anthony Drejaj hit a threeball. But another Williams three gave UC its first double-digit lead at 44-33, and the 'Cats pushed their lead to as many as 16.
SLU senior guard Marque Perry attempted to lead a Billiken comeback as he scored nine consecutive points. Fisher also tossed in five in the rally, and Perry's traditional three-point play brought the Bills within 58-51 with 2:32 to play. The 'Cats withstood the Billikens' thrust as Barked drained six straight free throws, while Stokes and Maxiell each knocked in two.
"Our big guys answered the challenge tonight by keeping Jason Maxiell under control and winning the battle on the boards," Beane said. "But when we had a chance to get back in it in the second half, we just didn't have things go our way - missed free throws, easy missed lay-ups - and we just can't have that happen."
"We know Coach Soderberg wanted us to come out here, play hard and stay focused," Perry said. "He'd still want us to do what we're supposed to do even if he's not there."
"I'm upset, because we didn't defend, rebound or execute our offense at all times the way we're supposed to," Perry said. "When we opened that big lead, we should have maintained that lead. We needed to get stops like we did at the beginning, but we just let up."
UC head coach Bob Huggins knows that he can rely on Stokes at crunch time. "It's his turn, and that's what you wait for as a player," Huggins said. "Last year, he was the third or fourth option. He's scored when we've needed him to score. He understands when he needs to grab it and make a play."
In leading UC, Stokes showed his entire game with drives, post-ups, mid-range pull-up jumpers and threes. Williams finished with 15 points, and Barker collected 12. The 'Cats shot 46.9 percent from the field and committed only six turnovers.
Perry led Saint Louis with 20 points, five boards and four assists. Fisher finished with 18 points. SLU shot only 32.3 percent from the field in the second half and finished at 38.6 percent for the game. The Billikens, who had been out-rebounded decisively in recent outings, held a slim 33-32 edge on the glass. Senior center Kenny Brown grabbed a game-high nine caroms.
The Billikens (6-8, 0-3) seek their first C-USA win at Houston on Sat., Jan. 18, in a 1 p.m. (CST) start.
