Balanced Cincinnati rolls over Chicago State 95-60

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin made sure his Bearcats knew they had history in their grasp against Chicago State on Friday night — a chance to become the first team in the 111-season history of the program to score at least 100 points in three consecutive games.

The Bearcats gave it a good shot, but came up two baskets short. Sean Kilpatrick scored 21 points to lead six Cincinnati players in double figures as the red-hot Bearcats rolled to a 95-60 win over the winless Cougars.

“We wanted it bad,” Kilpatrick said. “Coach told us it would’ve been the first time in 100-something years. That would’ve been big, but it was nice to get the win.”

Cashmere Wright scored 14 before leaving the game with more than 10 minutes remaining, and four players — Jeremiah Davis III, Dion Dixon, Justin Jackson and Ge’Lawn Guyn — added 11 each for Cincinnati before a crowd of 5,321 at 13,176-seat Fifth Third Arena.

Cronin blamed Cincinnati’s defense for missing the chance to make history.

“I was disappointed for our fans,” Cronin said. “There were too many times on defense when we didn’t box out in the second half. Their offensive rebounds kept us on defense too long and cost us field goal tries at the other end. It would’ve been fun for the guys to get into the record book. I wanted to get it for the fans.”

Chicago State, playing its fourth game in 10 days, knew the Bearcats were rolling going into the game, but coach Tracy Dilby had a different reason for not wanting to see Cincinnati reach triple figures.

“I told our coaches we definitely didn’t need them to score a hundred against us at the end of the stretch,” Dilby said. “That’s why we played until the very end.”

Jeremy Robinson scored 18 points and D’Jari Nelson had 10 to lead Chicago State (0-13), which was playing the first of four consecutive road games. The Cougars tried everything in the playbook in an effort to slow down the Bearcats, Dilby said.

“They sure have some good shooters,” Dilby said. “They have as many good shooters as any team we’ve seen — at least four guys who can pick-and-pop. I wanted to make a trade with them — get some of their guys to come here and play all the time. We wanted to come in and not make them comfortable. We started out trapping all over the court. That didn’t work. After that, we threw everything at them — every zone we have — but with the comfort level they have shooting the ball, especially in this building, they’re going to be tough to beat.”

Cincinnati is 4-0 since Yancy Gates, Octavius Ellis and Cheikh Mbodj were suspended for three games each following the brawl with then-No. 8 Xavier on Dec. 10 that prompted officials to stop the game with 9.4 seconds remaining. The 76-53 loss to the Musketeers was the Bearcats’ only setback in their last seven games.

The now-guard-oriented Bearcats, who are off until meeting Oklahoma next Thursday, set season highs with 16 3-pointers and 35 attempts.

Kilpatrick scored 11 points, Wright and Dixon had nine each and the Bearcats, who connected on a combined 29 3-pointers in their previous two games, went 9 for 20 from long range while building a 48-24 halftime lead. They ended the half on a 21-2 run and kept the Cougars scoreless for more than five minutes.