CINCINNATI RALLIES FOR BIG EAST ROAD WIN

Tempers and frustrations boiled over in the meeting between St. John's and Cincinnati at Carnesecca Arena last night.

When order was restored, it was the Redstorm in Foul Mood After Collapse (Newsday) and the Bearcats celebrating their third win in their last four conference games

With the score 43-35 in favor of SJU following a DJ Kennedy three-pointer 2:57 into the second half, referee karl Hess stopped the game and issued a double technical to Kennedy and UC forward Rashad Bishop for excessive jawing that had been building throughout the game. When both continued even after being seperated and issued T's, Curtis Shaw then hit the pair again with double technicals, ejecting both from the game.

The double ejection crippled the Redstorm as a deeper Cincinnati team took advantage UC Grinds out a Victory (Cincinnati Enquirer), outscoring SJU 36-17 over the final 17:03 of the game.

Deonta Vaughn scored 20 of his game-high 23 in the second half, including 10 in a row in a spurt that allowed UC to take control of the game after trailing 55-52 with 7:50 to go.

Bishop added 15 for the Bearcats despite missing the final 17 minutes.

Even though Kennedy Gets Thrown Out (Daily News), the Redstorm extended the lead to as many as 11, 51-40, with 13:16 left, but they managed just one field goal in the last 7:50 and were outscored 31-9 to close the game.

With Kennedy out of the game and Malik Boothe unavailable because of injury, SJU was without their two best ball-handlers and the Bearcats took advantage with a press. The extended defense wore out the thin Redstorm and forced their shakky ball-handling to be exposed as they committed 21 turnovers, to just 10 for the game by UC.

Paris Horne had 20 for the 'storm and Justin Burrell added 15. Sean Evans had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, but was just 4-13 from the foul line.

Notes:

-Cincinnati matched last year's win total (13-19) as they moved to 13-7 overall. They are now 3-4 in the Big East, winning three of their last four.

-The Redstorm held a 43-33 rebounding edge, but it was negated by the 21 turnovers to UC just turning it over 10 times in the game.