Feb. 17, 2006

Box Score

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Devan Downey was fouled on a fastbreak and made two free throws with 3.4 seconds to play Friday, leading resurgent Cincinnati to a 66-64 victory over Providence.

The Bearcats (18-9, 7-6 Big East) overcame 1-for-13 shooting by power forward Eric Hicks and a final shot by Sharaud Curry that ricocheted side-to-side off the rim before falling away, ending a game that came down to two final bounces.

James White scored 22 points for Cincinnati, which led for most of the game but had to rally from a late deficit. The short-handed Bearcats built upon their 82-65 win at Syracuse on Wednesday, getting their first back-to-back victories since Jan. 4-7.

Providence (11-12, 4-8) tied it at 64 on Charles Burch's two free throws with 1:12 left. After Donnie McGrath missed a 3-pointer, Downey got the ball and headed down the court, drawing a foul from McGrath as he went in for a layup.

Downey's first free throw hit the rim, then the backboard, then fell in. The second one went through cleanly. After a timeout, Providence got the shot it wanted -- Curry's floater from just inside the free-throw line that didn't go down.

Cincinnati shot 31 percent from the field and got outrebounded 51-41, but got the bounces in the final seconds. Herbert Hill led Providence with 17 points, and McGrath had 16.

The Bearcats held a slim lead throughout the first half, when both offenses sputtered and neither team could put together much of a run.

Cincinnati had trouble getting shots inside Providence's 2-3 zone, which collapsed on Hicks whenever he got the ball. Providence wasn't much better, shooting 35 percent in the half against a defense that swatted away six of its shots.

Jihad Muhammad's 3-pointer completed a seven-point spurt that gave Cincinnati its biggest lead, 23-14.

After trailing by a point at halftime, the Friars made it a point to get the ball inside to the 6-foot-10 Hill, who is 3 inches taller than anyone in Cincinnati's lineup. He scored the Friars' first seven points of the half.

Six-foot-11 Randall Hanke made back-to-back baskets during an 11-0 run that gave Providence its first lead, 54-47, midway through the second half. With Hicks still scoreless from the field, Cincinnati had to get its baskets from long range.

Muhammad made a pull-up jumper and a pair of 3's to keep the Bearcats close, and Hicks' dunk off a pass from Cedric McGowan -- the forward's first basket after nine misses -- put Cincinnati back ahead and set up the final-bounce finish.

Head Coach Tim Welsh said after the game he was proud of his guys. "It was obviously a tough game for us. We just couldn't get the ball to go down when we needed it to go down. I give them credit, they executed well, but our guys played well. It's a tough loss to swallow and they battled. I told them I was proud of them and I was as proud as I would have been if they won by 15 points. I don't say that often.