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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Bob Huggins stomped his feet and screamed until
turning purple. He did everything he could to warn his Cincinnati
players about Toledo.
The Bearcats didn't listen.
|  | | As Toledo's Robierre Cullars celebrates, Steve Logan's disappointment is evident after Cincinnati's 69-66 loss. |
Greg Stempin scored 21 points and blocked Kenny Satterfield's
shot with three seconds left Saturday as Toledo upset Cincinnati (No. 18 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 AP) 69-66 in the Rock 'N' Roll Shootout at Gund Arena.
Stempin made a lay-in with 21 seconds remaining and then stuffed
Satterfield in the foul lane for the Rockets (8-3), who built an
18-point lead in the second half and then survived a furious
comeback by the Bearcats (9-3).
"I watched the film. I knew they were good," Huggins said of
Toledo, which became the fourth Mid-American Conference school to
knock off a ranked team this season. "I probably didn't do a good
enough job convincing our guys."
Robierre Cullars added 12 points and Nick Moore made three
3-pointers for underrated and unranked Toledo, now 5-0 against
teams which appeared in last season's NCAA tournament.
"It's a good win," said Toledo coach Stan Joplin, who missed
two days of practice this week after his mother-in-law's death.
"We withstood (Cincinnati's comeback) it, but we made an awful lot
of mistakes. Thankfully, we got through it."
Steve Logan led Cincinnati with 18 points and Donald Little had
nine points and four blocks in the second half as the Bearcats
charged back.
But Cincinnati was outrebounded and outhustled by the Rockets,
who had a 42-35 advantage on the boards and didn't back down.
"A lot of teams shy away from Cincinnati because of their
reputation," Stempin said. "Coach told us, 'If you don't play
aggressive, you don't play at all.' "
Satterfield, averaging 18 points per game, had just four points
and made six turnovers.
"I don't know what our problem is," said the fiery Huggins,
who tore into his players during several timeouts. "I'm trying to
figure out what's wrong with us. I don't know what to say."
Xavier beat Kent State 71-60 in the second game of the
doubleheader.
Down by 18 with 18:08 left and on the verge of getting blown
out, the Bearcats used their half-court zone trap to claw back and
took their first lead at 61-59 on Logan's reverse layup with 3:48
to go.
Moore buried a 3-pointer from the right side to put the Rockets
up 65-64 with 1:07 left before Jamall Davis followed in a miss with
44 seconds to play for Cincinnati.
After a timeout, Toledo freshman guard Terry Reynolds drove the
baseline and passed through traffic to Stempin, whose basket made
it 67-66.
"I kept telling our guys in the huddle that Reynolds was going
to make a play," Huggins said. "And he did."
Satterfield, who went just 1-for-7 from the floor, then tried to
draw a foul as he went up just inside the line but the 6-foot-8
Stempin rejected the attempt and Reynolds was fouled.
"It was clean," Stempin said. "Coming out of the huddle, I
said, 'Satterfield's going to take the shot and I'm going to come
up and try to block it."'
Reynolds then made two free throws and Logan was short with a
3-pointer just before the buzzer as the Rockets, who were coming
off a two-point loss to Xavier, held on.
With a foul to give, Joplin had instructed his players to foul
one of Cincinnati's players before they got off a last attempt.
"We were going to foul," Joplin said. "Shows how much they
listened to me. I said, 'Oh, my'. But somehow we got it done.
Hopefully this win will give the MAC a shot in the arm."
Toledo's aggressive man-to-man pressure made it tough on the
Bearcats from the start and Cincinnati missed 10 of its first 11
shots from the floor.
After the Bearcats used a 9-2 spurt in the first half to get
within two, Cullars scored five points and the Rockets, who
outhustled the Bearcats at both ends in the first half, countered
with a 14-2 run and led 38-26 at the break.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Cincinnati Clubhouse
Toledo Clubhouse
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