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BOX SCORE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- This time, there was nothing Kenyon
Martin could do.
The Cincinnati All-American sat at the end of the bench, crutches beside him on the floor. His leg was broken, and so was the Bearcats' season.
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Sun, March 19
Tulsa's defense bottled up Cincinnati and sent the Bearcats to their
fourth straight second-round exit.
The numbers tell how much the Bearcats missed Kenyon Martin. DerMarr
Johnson was 2 of 9 while Steve Logan and Kenny Satterfield were both 2 of 10
from the field. Pete Mickeal wasn't much better at 5 of 12. Martin's absence
put too much pressure on the Bearcats to produce from the perimeter.
The Bearcats became vulnerable the moment Martin broke his fibula.
Cincinnati believed it would still advance to the Final Four without Martin, but that would
have been an improbable run. The selection committee didn't give the
Bearcats any favors by placing Tulsa as the No. 7 seed in their bracket
In the end, Cincinnati was undermanned without Martin and couldn't
be expected to win without him. Cincinnati had a sensational season and
should be remembered for what it did during the regular season, instead of
its flameout in the NCAA.
Martin will clean up the postseason awards, and the
Bearcats should be given their due for having one of the most dominating
regular seasons since UNLV in 1991. Had it not been for the bad break, the Bearcats
would still be playing -- probably as a No. 1 seed in Nashville.
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"It's hard when you can't help," he said Sunday after
second-seeded Cincinnati lost 69-61 to Tulsa in the second round of
the South Regional. "It is a helpless feeling. It's very tough in
this room right now. It's something that can't be explained in
words."
There was nothing the injured center could do stop Eric Coley
and seventh-seeded Tulsa from moving on to face Miami in the round
of 16. As for Cincinnati, it was another second-round meltdown.
Coley had 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Tulsa (31-4) went on a
14-0 tear over four minutes late in the second half to wipe out a
five-point deficit.
Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins knows better than anyone how much
of a difference Martin would have made.
"If Ken's playing, he's guarding Coley and he gets 16 and 16,"
he said. "It's certainly not an alibi or an excuse. We've still
got good enough players to win. Tulsa did a good job."
Still, Huggins could not forget Martin, who broke his leg in the
Conference USA tournament.
"It's tough seeing him sitting there with a cast on," the
coach said. "It's tough for the rest of our seniors. I'm going to
coach some more, probably. This is it for those four guys and it's
tough."
Two of Cincinnati's seniors tried to make up for Martin. Pete
Mickeal, who fouled out, had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Ryan
Fletcher, starting in Martin's place, had 13 points, including five
straight that put Cincinnati (29-4) in front 50-45 after the
Bearcats wiped out an early 16-point Tulsa lead.
But the Golden Hurricane showed great resolve, going on a tear
that was touched off by Dante Swanson's 3-pointer.
In four minutes they reconstructed their lead to nine points and
Cincinnati never recovered.
"Wow, did we play down the stretch," coach Bill Self said.
"They're a terrific team even without Kenyon. There should not be
an asterisk beside this."
Coley dominated the boards, setting a career high with the 16
rebounds.
"It seemed like I was in the right place at the right time,"
he said. "I was just attacking the boards, trying to get my hands
on every ball."
|  | | This is the third trip to the Sweet 16 in seven years for Dante Swanson's Golden Hurricane. |
"Eric's been doing that all year long," teammate Brandon Kurtz
said. "It's just that it's on a national stage now."
Greg Harrington, who was saddled with three early fouls and sat
most of the first half, returned to the game and energized Tulsa's
run beating Cincinnati's half-court trap on possession after
possession and converting some easy shots.
"They started solving it and we got a little tired," Huggins
said. "We had guys not used to playing that amount of minutes."
It was the fourth straight year that Cincinnati has failed to
advance past the first round of the tournament. This time, though,
it was with Martin seated at the end of the bench.
He was teary-eyed as Tulsa charged to an early lead.
The Golden Hurricane ran off 13 straight points and built a 19-7
lead. That widened to 28-14 as the Bearcats seemed lost under
Tulsa's barrage. The Hurricane held a 27-19 rebounding edge at
halftime but Cincinnati had sliced the lead to just seven, 31-24.
Swanson and David Shelton had 14 each for Tulsa, and Tony Heard
added 10.
"After this game, people should know who we are," Swanson
said. "They might think of it as a fluke. We have to show it was
not."
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Tulsa NCAA Team Report
Cincinnati NCAA Team Report
Chat: NCAA Tourney
Hemsley leads Miami to first Sweet 16 trip
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Bob Huggins says his team had to make many offensive changes.
wav: 161 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Dante Swanson says people should now know about Tulsa.
wav: 84 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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