Freshman Make Impact in Victory
CINCINNATI(AP) Freshman Rashad Bishop scored 12 points to lead balanced Cincinnati to a 69-64 win over Fairfield Saturday afternoon.
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Deonta Vaughn and Marcus Sikes were the only other two Bearcats to reach double figures, each with 11 points. Vaughn scored a career-high 36 points in the Bearcats' last game, a 74-59 win over Coastal Carolina on Nov. 16, but he managed just two in the first half Saturday before scoring for nine in the second half.
All but one of the 10 Bearcats who saw action for Cincinnati (3-2) scored at least two points. Bishop matched the season high he set in Cincinnati's 69-67 loss to Bowling Green on Nov. 11.
Fairfield junior Jonathan Han led all scorers with 20 points, including a 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left in the game. Anthony Johnson had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Stags (2-3), who saw a two-game winning streak snapped.
Cincinnati never trailed and led by as many as 12 points in the first half, including 32-20 at halftime on Bishop's buzzer-beating 15-foot jump shot. Freshman Darnell Wilks, scoreless while playing a combined eight minutes over three of the Bearcats' first four games, scored six points in 10 minutes in the first half.
Han, who scored a combined 37 points in the Stags' previous two games, rebounded from being shut out in the first to score 10 points while helping Fairfield cut Cincinnati's lead to 44-43 with 9:11 left. Then Larry Davis made a 3-pointer to spark a 10-0 Bearcat run that left them leading 54-43 with 6:52 remaining.