Men's basketball drops hard-fought decision to No. 25 Cincinnati

Thursday, February 7

Memphis, Tenn.

6 PM

University of Memphis

Cincinnati

Memphis

Mike Parks had 11 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals against Cincinnati.

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Men's basketball drops hard-fought decision to No. 25 Cincinnati

Feb 07, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Martin scores 26, Davenport has double-double, but Tigers lose, 69-64

By: Phil Stukenborg

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Jeremiah Martin made a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored a game-high 26 points and teammate Kyvon Davenport added a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds, but their efforts weren't enough Thursday night against 25^th-ranked Cincinnati.

The Bearcats rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat the Tigers, 69-64, in an American Athletic Conference game before 16,363 at FedExForum. Jarron Cumberland, the league's second-leading scorer, led Cincinnati (20-3, 9-1 The American) with 17 points and Justin Jenifer added 14. Jenifer had four 3-pointers.

Memphis led by 11 early in the second half -- and for more than 20 minutes in the game -- but couldn't hold on to its lead. The Bearcats regained the lead at 54-52 following the last of Jenifer's 3-pointers with about six minutes left. Cincinnati never trailed the rest of the way in winning their eighth straight and for the 11^th time in 12 games. Cumberland scored nine straight points in the final three minutes to preserve the win.

"Tip your hat to them," said Memphis coach Penny Hardaway. "They were down in the second half and they kept fighting and scrapping like we knew they would. We didn't meet the challenge and they won the game."

The Tigers (13-10, 5-5 The American) shot 39.3 percent in the second half after shooting 50 percent in the first half. For the game, the Tigers shot only eight free throws to Cincinnati's 22.

The Bearcats improved to 4-1 on the road, while the Tigers lost at home for only the second time in 13 games. Both losses have been to nationally ranked programs: Cincinnati and No. 1 Tennessee.

"That was a hard-fought conference game," said Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin. "I thought their kids played extremely hard."

Cincinnati was held to 39.7 percent shooting, but won the battle on the boards, 38-32. The Bearcats also committed only one second-half turnover: a shot-clock violation.

"We didn't rebound the ball (well) in the second half and they got a couple of easy baskets," said Martin, who was coming off a career-high 41-point effort at USF. "That's what allowed them to push away."

The Tigers appeared to be positioning themselves for an upset win early in the second when they extended their six-point halftime lead to an 11-point advantage. Davenport created the double-digit lead by following a jumper with a 3-pointer for a 40-29 lead.

Cincinnati began clawing back and midway through the half had put together a 12-2 run to tie the game at 46-all. During a four-minute stretch, the Tigers were held scoreless while UC was scored 12 straight for a 58-52 lead with just under four minutes to go.

"Everytime a shot went up, they crashed the (boards)," Parks said. "Some of our guys were in there, but we didn't box out."

At the half, the Tigers led, 35-29. Memphis made 50 percent of its first-half shot attempts (14-of-28) and forced the Bearcats into a 10 turnovers and poor shooting. Cincinnati shot 32.1 percent.

Unlike on the road, the Tigers never got far behind from the outset. Martin connected on four 3-pointers in the opening seven minutes and the Tigers and Bearcats swapped small leads.

Memphis built an eight-point lead late in the half after a three-point play by Mike Parks, who followed a Kareem Brewton miss and was fouled. He made the free throw to give the Tigers a 35-27 advantage with two minutes remaining.

Martin had 12 points at the half to lead the Tigers, who were outrebounded in the opening 20 minutes, 20-15.

The Tigers remain home to play UConn at 1 p.m. Sunday at FedExForum.

NOTABLE

The Tigers lost for the first time this season when holding an opponent to less than 40-percent shooting. UC shot 39.7 percent.
The Bearcats turned the ball over 11 times, but only once after halftime on a shot-clock violation. They did not commit a turnover in the game's final 16 minutes.
Martin's 26-point effort allowed him to surpass 1,300 career points. His 1,301 points rank 20^th in school history, four points behind David Vaughn (1992-95) and 18 points behind his coach, Penny Hardaway (1992-93), and Alvin Wright (1975-78).
The Tigers' eight blocks represented a season high. Kyvon Davenport led the UofM with three blocks.
In his past two games, Martin has scored 67 points and connected on 22 of 39 field goals and 15 of 23 from beyond the arc.
Memphis started an all-senior lineup (Martin, Davenport, Parks, Brewton and Raynere Thornton) for the second time this season. The combination is 1-1 with a victory over ECU.