UC Bearcats down East Carolina for 19th win
Gary Clark is getting tired of hearing how nice of a guy he is on the basketball court. The best way for him to change that perception would be to keep playing like he has for the past month.
The University of Cincinnati sophomore forward and senior center Octavius Ellis each produced double-doubles to lead the Bearcats to a 75-60 win against East Carolina Saturday afternoon in front of 12,513 at Fifth Third Arena. It was UC’s sixth win in its last seven games, raising its overall record to 19-7 and 9-4 in the American Athletic Conference.
UC finished off the game with a 33-18 run over the final 13 minutes to send the Pirates (10-15, 2-10) to their fourth consecutive loss. The win keeps UC in second place in the AAC, one-half game behind leaders Temple and Southern Methodist University with five league games remaining. Temple and SMU are each 9-3 in the conference.
Clark scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season and third in the last four games. He is averaging 12.5 points and 9.4 rebounds in his last 10 games.
If there has been one criticism about Clark in his time at UC, it’s that he isn’t always aggressive enough.
“I try to go out there and dominate night-in and night out,” said Clark. “When I hear ‘He’s too nice’ well, what do you want me to do? Just go up and just nail someone?”
That could put an end to any such critiques. Maybe.
“From everyone else probably but not from the coaching staff,” said Clark. “They’ll keep saying it, keep being on me constantly.”
Ellis had 16 points and 11 points for his second straight double-double. Five Bearcats in all scored in double figures, although UC had to overcome a slow start from its outside game. They also played without senior forward Shaq Thomas, who is being rested with a bruised right foot and sprained right ankle.
The Bearcats missed their first eight 3-pointers of the game and were just 3-of-16 from behind the arc in the first half. They made five of their 11 attempted 3-pointers in the second half.
“The way we were shooting the ball from the perimeter we needed them,” said UC coach Mick Cronin of Clark and Ellis. “We had get the ball in the basket with our big guys. If you’re going to score 75, guys have to put the ball in the basket.”
UC outscored East Carolina 38-22 in the paint, including scoring 24 points inside in the first half as it took a 34-26 lead to the locker room.
Ellis had 10 points and equaled a career-high with 14 rebounds in UC’s 69-51 win at Central Florida on Tuesday. He had 12 points and seven rebounds at halftime Saturday. There were six lead changes in the first half. UC used a 9-0 run to turn a 23-22 deficit into a 31-23 lead with 2:34 left in the first half and force East Carolina coach Jeff Lebo to call time out. Six of those points came from Ellis.
“I’m just continuing the way I played against UCF,” said Ellis. “Before the game (assistant) coach (Larry) Davis told me and Gary we should compete on the boards and that’s what we did today.”
Said Cronin: “Tay saved the day in the first half with his rebounding. It was unbelievable. He was Dennis Rodman out there in the first half.”
Junior guard Kevin Johnson added 13 points, while junior point guard Troy Caupain had 12 points and six assists. Freshman guard Jacob Evans III scored 10 points.
East Carolina began the second half with an 11-4 run. The Pirates made nine 3-pointers for the game and forged a 42-42 tie on a driving basket by senior guard Prince Williams with 13:35 left. Williams led four East Carolina players in double figures with 15 points.
Johnson broke that tie with 12:44 left with the first of his three 3-pointers. That field goal began an 11-1 run for the Bearcats and gave them the lead for good. East Carolina never got closer than five points after UC’s spurt that was highlighted by consecutive slam dunks by Evans and Johnson off assists by Caupain.
“I thought East Carolina played really hard today. They’re really active in their zone, they’re an athletic team,” said Cronin. “They forced us to grind out the win in the end. As much as I’d love to go out there and make every shot and pull away early, it probably makes you better at the end of the day that we had to dig in and get better to win this game.”