CINCINNATI, Ohio  (Dec. 23, 2010) – Cincinnati made nine of its 12 three-pointers in the first half on its way to remaining unbeaten and handing the Saint Francis men's basketball team a 94-58 non-conference defeat on Thursday night at the Fifth Third Arena.

 

Sophomore Will Felder (Cleveland, OH/Lutheran East Hs) fell one rebound shy of his fourth double-double and finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds. Sophomore Chris Johnson (Newport News, Va./Denbigh) had a team-high 13 points, 4 assists and 2 steals, and sophomore Umar Shannon (Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City) added 12 points and 3 assists.

 

Sean Kilpatrick had a game-high 21 points for the Bearcats, while Larry Davis and Yancy Gates had 18 points each for the Big East squad.

 

The Red Flash fell to 2-10 overall, and will now take the Christmas break off before returning to action with their final non-conference game of the season on Jan. 2 at North Carolina. Cincinnati remained one of the nation's few remaining unbeaten teams at 12-0.

 

“We fought until the very end,” said Saint Francis head coach Don Friday. “My hat's off to Mick Cronin and his staff, they have a very good team over there. Our guys did a great job of battling, and I thought we did some good things. I know that we don't have much to show for in the win column, but we are executing our offense much better. Our kids are growing up, and we will be better during our conference season.”

 

The Red Flash shot 46.4 percent (13-of-28) in the second half, and 37-7 percent for the game (20-of-53), but Cincinnati's offense was too much, firing at a 52.2 percent clip (36-of-69) for the game.

 

SFU made 12-of-13 free throws (.923), and had 7 steals and 3 blocks, including 2 by senior Mislav Jukic (Zagreb, Crotia/Life Center Acadamy).

 

The Bearcats hit on 9-of-12 three-point attempts in the first half to take a commanding lead. Cincinnati shot 52.9 percent from the field, but 75 percent from outside the arc. The Red Flash were 7-of-25 (28.0 percent) in the first half, and made 2-of-9 from long distance (22.2 percent).

 

Shannon led Saint Francis with nine first-half points, while Felder and Johnson had four each.

 

Kilpatrick had 14 points at the break for the Bearcats, who forced the Red Flash into 13 turnovers.

 

Also for Saint Francis in the game, sophomore Tony Peters (Roselle, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) had 8 points off the bench to go with 3 rebounds, and sophomore Anthony Ervin (Chesterfield, Va./Fork Union Military Academy) added 6 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.

 

For periodic men's basketball updates on Twitter, follow Director of Athletic Communications Bob Volkert at SFUVolkert.