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NCAA Tournament Recap (Temple-Cincinnati)
Posted: Sun March 14, 1999 at 6:52 p.m. EST BOSTON (Ticker) -- Lamont Barnes scored 15 points as sixth-seeded Temple rode a strong performance from its matchup zone and finally beat Cincinnati in the NCAA Tournament, recording a 64-54 victory in the second round of the East Region. Pepe Sanchez and Quincy Wadley added 14 points apiece for the Owls (23-10), who are in the regional semifinals for the first time since 1993. Using a variety of matchup zone defenses, Temple grinded its way to a 21-8 lead in the first 13 minutes and led by at least seven points the rest of the way. The win eased some of the sting of Temple's previous NCAA Tournament losses to the Bearcats in the first round in 1995 and the second round in 1996. The Owls won for just the fourth time in 18 all-time meetings. "It feels really good when people think you shouldn't be there," the Owls' Rasheed Brokenborough said. "A lot of people thought we were going home today. We feel happy we're going to the sweet 16." Temple will play either second-seeded Miami or Purdue in the regional semifinals Friday at East Rutherford, New Jersey. Kenyon Martin scored 16 points and Melvin Levett added 14 for the Bearcats (27-6), who became the fourth and final team from Conference USA eliminated from the field of 64. Despite being seeded no lower than third the last three years, Cincinnati has failed to reach the regional semifinals. "It's very tough for the season to end this way, three years in a row we lost in the second round," said Levett, who played his final collegiate game. "We had chances to win the game, knowing what we did, what we could've done, it's just sickening to go out so early." The Owls set the tone of the game early, taking advantage of their strong inside play as Kevin Lyde, Brokenborough and Barnes all had buckets in the first two minutes. Cincinnati recovered to tie the game, 6-6, on a 10-footer by Levett, but Temple dared the Bearcats to shoot over the top of the zone and they complied by missing. After Lyde went to the bench with his second foul, freshman center Ronald Rollerson had a short bucket to give the Owls the lead for good at 8-6. Steve Logan hit 1-of-2 free throws, but Temple had eight straight points as Matt Karcher and Sanchez each hit two free throws around a dunk by Barnes. Karcher added a transition lay-in to give the Owls a 16-7 lead with 9:39 left. Martin made a free throw, but Wadley countered with a 3-pointer and Keaton Sanders had an eight-footer to push the advantage to 21-8. Logan hit a 3-pointer, but Sanchez nailed one from the right wing and had a steal and layup off a lazy pass as the Owls extended the margin to 26-11. After a 10-footer by Levett, Temple was able to get four shots on its next possession, capped by a 3-pointer from Wadley that made it 29-13 with 2:40 left. Cincinnati trailed 31-18 early in the second half, but methodically worked its way back into the game by taking the ball to the basket. Two free throws by Pete Mickeal pulled the Bearcats within 35-29 at the 12:59 mark, and Cincinnati had already drawn seven fouls on Temple. After a miss by the Bearcats, Wadley buried a huge 3-pointer from the left wing and Sanders added a follow shot to rebuild the lead to 11. Cincinnati was able to draw no closer than seven thereafter. "When our kids were getting the ball inside and sensed the double, they kicked it out and we hit the open shots, especially Quincy," Owls coach John Chaney said. "Today I thought Quincy and Rasheed were sitting on their jump shots the way I like to see them. That was really big." "We got the sense of continually fighting out of a hole," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. Cincinnati shot just 35 percent (17-of-49), including 6-of-22 from 3-point range. The Bearcats forced 16 turnovers, but also committed 16. "We didn't really see anything we didn't think we would see," said Levett. "We didn't rebound the ball and like coach said, we didn't make shots. We didn't do a good job at all rebounding the basketball."© 2000 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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