Box Score
CINCINNATI,
Ohio - UALR had its three-game winning streak snapped on
Thursday, as No. 11 Cincinnati (8-0) topped the Trojans (7-4) by an 87-53 final
score at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats defense came up with 23 steals on the
night and forced UALR into a season-high 32 turnovers.
Four Bearcats finished the night in double figures, led
by Sean Kilpatrick's 18-point effort on 7-of-16 shooting. Cheikh Mbodj and
David Nyarsuk scored 12 points each, and Mbodj finished the night with three
blocked shots.
Junior Will
Neighbour, freshman James White
and sophomore Ben Dillard paced the
Trojans with 10 points apiece. Neighbour's six rebounds were a team high, while
freshman John Gillon dished out a
team-best four assists but committed eight turnovers.
Cincinnati outrebounded the Trojans 39-to-32 and racked
up 20 assists on its 34 made field goals. The Bearcats shot 47.9 percent
(34-of-71) from the field in the contest. UC held advantages in points in the
paint (42-to-20), points off turnovers (31-to-8), second-chance points
(11-to-4), fast-break points (21-to-14), and bench scoring (31-to-22).
Justin Jackson led UC with four steals, while seven
other Bearcats recorded at least two swipes in the game.
After a first half that saw UALR score just 17 points
and shoot just 32.0 percent (8-of-25) from the field, the Trojans scored 36
points in the second half and shot 48.0 percent (12-of-25) from the floor.
Cincinnati raced out to a quick 9-2 lead just over six
minutes into the game. Two UALR buckets by Dillard and White made it 11-6 at
the 12:43 mark, but the Bearcats answered with a 17-4 run over the next five
minutes and change to make the score 28-10 with just under seven minutes left
in the half. After a trey by Dillard made it 28-13, UC ended the half on a 16-4
run to take a 44-17 lead into intermission.
UALR scored the first four points of the second half on
buckets by White and Neighbour, but Cincinnati answered by scoring eight of the
next ten points to make it 52-23 with 15:35 left on the clock. The Bearcats led
by as many as 38 after a three pointer by Kilpatrick made it 63-25 at the 13:31
mark. Dillard and freshman Kemy Osse
knocked down four-straight free throws to make it 71-44 with 6:38 left in the
game, but UC answered with eight-straight points to grow its lead back to 35,
and the Trojans never got the margin under 30 points the rest of the game.
UALR returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 15 against
Tulsa at the Jack Stephens Center. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
