HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. | Alabama State fell to hot-shooting 11th-ranked Cincinnati 83-51 at BB&T Arena on the campus of Northern Kentucky University in front of 7,012 fans Monday night.
"It was a tough ball game," Alabama State head coach
Lewis Jackson said. "When you play one of the top 15 teams in the country on the road, you know it is going to be tough. But I thought our guys played hard from start to finish, we didn't do everything right and we made some mistakes early on that cost us.
"We went zone early that gave them open shots. But for most part we competed and executed some things on offense. There was some growth tonight, although the score may not indicate to the regular person, but we had some guys step up and do some things well. I thought we rebounded the ball well at times. We will take this and continue to build on it."
The Hornets ended the night shooting 38.6 (29-of-59) percent from the floor and 41.7 (5-of-12) percent from beyond the arc. However, it wasn't enough to overcome the shooting of Cincinnati who finished 49.2 (29-of-59) percent from the floor and 27.3 (6-of-22) percent from beyond the arc. The Bearcats also shot 73.1 (19-of-26) percent from the free throw line.
Branden Johnson led Alabama State (0-7) with 10 points and eight rebounds, while also adding a pair of blocks.
Ed Jones added nine, while
Jacoby Ross and
Fausto Pichardo added seven off the bench.
Cincinnati was able to pull away early in the first half after the Hornets came back and tied the game at 4-all on an
Ed Jones short jumper as the shot clock expired with 18:20 remaining in the first half. The Bearcats went on a 17-2 over the next seven minutes to take a 21-6 lead. The Hornets went four minutes without a basket until Pichardo hit back-to-back baskets, with the first coming with 10:51 to play in the half, to trim the deficit to 21-10.
Alabama State trimmed the deficit to single digits with just over nine minutes to play in the opening half with a three-pointer from
Jacoby Ross and a jumper from
Terrance LeFlore, trimming the deficit to 24-15. Cincinnati pushed the lead back to 15 until LeFlore knocked down a three with 7:40 remaining in the half to trim the deficit to 30-18, the closest Alabama State could get for the rest of the contest.
For every run that Alabama had in the first half, the Bearcats were able to answer as they extended the lead to 46-26 with 1:15 remaining in the half, a half in which both teams ended up shooting over 45 percent from the floor.
"We had it down to nine," Jackson said. "We made a couple of mistakes and they hit two threes off of it, which pushed it back up. With nine new players like we have and just a handful of guys back from last year, we are making some strides. I think this team, if they continue to work hard and grow together, we will be okay down the stretch."
Cincinnati was able to build on the momentum of the two late three-pointers in the first half to pull away at the beginning of the second half, extending the lead to 54-28 just before the first media timeout. The Bearcats proved too much down the stretch as the favorite to win the America Athletic Conference (AAC) answered everything the Hornets threw at them.
Gary Clark led all scorers with 14 for Cincinnati (7-0), while Jacob Evans added 12 and Trevor Moore 11 in the win.
Alabama State returns to action Thursday night on the road at Jacksonville State, with tip set for 7 pm. The game can be seen on the OVC Digital Network.
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