Tulane University
Cincinnati
Tulane Defeated By No. 22 Cincinnati, 77-56
Mar 2, 2005 | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2005
CINCINNATI - Freshman Taylor Rochestie recorded his first career double-double but it was not enough for Tulane as it fell to No. 22 Cincinnati, 77-56, in Conference USA men's basketball action on Wednesday evening at Fifth Third Arena.
Tulane (9-17, 3-12 C-USA) will close the 2004-05 regular season on Saturday evening at Fogelman Arena, hosting East Carolina at 7 p.m. The game is a battle for a slot in next week's Conference USA Tournament in Memphis as the winner of that game will earn the No. 12 seed in the tourney, while the loser will stay home.
The Green Wave gave a scare to the high-ranked Bearcats. After trailing by just 10 at the break, Tulane rallied to open the second half. Rochestie heated up, hitting a pair of three-pointers, then senior Marcus Kinzer scored on a runner in the lane, followed by a three-pointer from the corner and Tulane trailed by just five at 43-38 with 14:18 to go.
However, Cincinnati (23-6, 11-4 C-USA) came to life behind the efforts of Jihad Muhammad. The junior guard scored 10 points to key a 24-6 run which put the game away, lifting the Bearcats to a 67-44 advantage with 4:40 to go.
"We wanted to stop their spurts," Finney said. "But they got that big one midway through the second half. Turnovers had been hurting us, but tonight, we only had four in the second half; they just made shots and we did not."
Tulane had 16 turnovers in the game, while forcing 12 by Cincinnati. The Green Wave was also out-rebounded, 47-28, as the Bearcats had a 21-2 advantage in second-chance points. The Bearcats hit 45.2 percent (28-of-62) of their shots while Wave hit just 38.2 percent (21-of-55). Cincinnati came into the game ranked second in the nation in field-goal percentage defense at .368.
Rochestie finished with 14 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Junior Quincy Davis added 12 points while senior Ben Benfield came off the bench for 10 points.
Despite falling behind by 23, the Green Wave did not give up. Rochestie stopped the Bearcat run with an old-fashioned three-point play. After a putback by Muhammad, the Wave rattled off seven unanswered points - Davis knocked down an 18-foot jumper, Rochestie hit from downtown and Benfield buried a pair of free throws - and Tulane trialed by just 13 at 69-56 with 1:53 to go.
However, Cincinnati closed the game out with eight unanswered points to account for the final margin.
The games starting lineups were near opposites as the Bearcats started four seniors for Senior Day. Tulane, meanwhile, took the opposite tactic, starting four freshmen. It was the first time since the 1989-90 season that the Green Wave started four freshmen.
