Box Score CINCINNATI, Ohio—The Alabama State men's basketball team could not overcome a sluggish first half en route to a 65-40 loss to the 22^nd-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats.
 
Cincinnati was able to throw 6-10 center Yancy Gates at ASU and he was able to record a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
Gates was not the only double-digit scorer for UC as Dion Dixon scored 14, Sean Kilpatrick had 13 and Cashmere Wright had 10.
 
ASU's Kenderek Washington was the game's leading scorer, finishing the game with 18 points.  Freshman Luther Page had 12 points, scoring six in each half.  Both Washington and Page had eight rebounds.
 
Washington also led ASU with three assists and had a game-high five steals.
 
Rebounding was a problem for ASU against the taller members of the Big East.  UC out rebounded ASU 44-31, with nine of those rebounds coming on the offensive end.
 
ASU also had a problem shooting over the taller Bearcats and finished the game shooting only 29 percent (18-62) from the field.  ASU had trouble getting the free throw line as well, attempting on three while UC hit 14 of their 20 attempts.
 
UC shot 45 percent (24-53) from the field, but struggled from the three-point line only hitting three of their 16 attempts.
 
The Hornets trailed 35-14 at halftime, but played better in the second half as UC was only able to outscore ASU 30-26.
 
The first half set the tone for the entire game as the Bearcats came out and was able to use their taller post players and score eight quick points before the Hornets could get into the scoring column.
 
ASU scored its first points of the game at the 17:10 mark as Page scored the first of his six points to stop the run.
 
But it would be another three minutes before ASU would score again and that was enough time for the Bearcats to score 10 points to lead 18-4 when Page again broke their scoring run with just under 14 minutes left in the first half.
 
“This was a very tough game for us tonight,” head coach Lewis Jackson said.  “Anytime you come into a top-25 place to play you have to do some things well and in the first half I did not think we did anything well.  We took bad shots, we forced some shots when we actually had some open shots and you know Gates just over powered us throughout the course of the game.”
 
“We've got to work and continue to improve as a team and I thought tonight we did not do enough things well.  I thought in the second half we played a little better and was able to get some things going.  Just our recognition on the offensive end we have to improve on.  But you have to take your hats off to Cincinnati, they dominated the game.”
 
The Hornets will host their first game of the season in their next outing when they host Northwestern State University Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m.