Bearcats nail late 3-pointer to sink Wildcats
First DePaul, now Cincinnati. For the second time this month, Villanova was upset on the road against what were supposed to be weaker conference foes. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Big East games aren’t played on paper.
Freshman Rashad Bishop earned his stripes by canning a 3-pointer with 22 seconds to play to propel Cincinnati to the upset victory over No.19 Villanova 69-66 on Saturday night. That was Bishops’ only basket and points of the evening, as he was 0-of-3 before hitting the winning basket.
Scottie Reynolds dropped in a season-best 32 points for Villanova (11-3, 1-2) in 37 minutes. Reynolds had struggled in his previous two games, scoring just 15 points in two games. Corey Fisher added 13 points and Antonio Pena chipped in with 10 off the bench. For the second straight game, Villanova lost the rebounding margin by double digits. They were outrebounded 43-31 in the win over Pittsburgh, and 36-24 in the loss to the Bearcats. Against the zone of Cincy, Villanova managed just seven offensive boards.
Deonta Vaughn led the Cincinnati (8-8, 3-1) attack once again, finishing with 25 points, 13 coming in the first half. He has been the leading scorer for the Bearcats in eight straight games now, and he’s scored at least 24 points in three consecutive games. John Williamson played the part of Robin to Vaughn’s Batman, notching 13 points and 11 rebounds, 10 coming in the first half.
It was a two man show between Reynolds and Vaughn, a virtual anything you can do, I can do better match-up. Reynolds provided instant offense for Villanova, scoring their first 12 points. Vaughn gave Cincinnati the lead 41-40 that started a series of multiple lead changes. The largest lead for the Bearcats came at 55-50, but Reynolds responded, sparking a 7-0 run to put Villanova back in front. Reynolds had a chance to potentially win it for Villanova, but had a shot blocked with 27 seconds left that would set up the game winner by Bishop just five seconds later for Cincinnati.
With the victory, Cincinnati has surpassed their win total already in conference play from a year ago when they were an abysmal 2-14 in the Big East. The Bearcats are now 3-1 and tied for second place in the standings.
No.19 Villanova will seek to extract some measure of revenge this Wednesday night when they host DePaul at 9 p.m. The Wildcats will be looking to get even with a Blue Demons squad that upset them earlier this month 84-76. Cincinnati has won four of their last five games, and they’ll aim for their third straight win against Notre Dame, in South Bend, on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
Tags: Big East Basketball, Cincinnati Bearcats, NCAA Men's basketball, Villanova Wildcats