Beaten to pulp

The University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team just couldn’t hang.

The Bearcats (14-9, 5-6 Big East) maintained a 49-43 lead with 12:26 remaining in regulation, but only managed to score five points the rest of the way, dropping a 71-54 decision to third-ranked Syracuse University.

“We had a little momentum going our way,” said sophomore forward Yancy Gates. “But, you know, the shots stopped falling.”

Photos: UC vs. Syracuse - 2.7.10

Cincinnati finished the game shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from 3-point range.

Syracuse shot better than 50 percent from both the field and from beyond the arc as Andy Rautins led the team in scoring with 20 points.

Rautins finished shooting 4 of 8 from distance.

The Orange (23-1, 10-1) finished the game on a 28-5 run, in part because Cincinnati couldn’t find a way to penetrate their  stifling zone defense.

“We struggled to get the ball inside against the zone from the 10-minute mark on and that hurt us,” said UC head coach Mick Cronin.

Cronin tried using Lance Stephenson at the point throughout the game because he thought it would be easier for a taller player to pass the ball inside. But the freshman didn’t have much success as he had only two assists along with three turnovers.

“I thought he did a really good job moving the ball when he was able to get the pass over the top,” Cronin said.

Syracuse took a seven-point lead at the five-and-a-half-minute mark and never looked back.

“I thought the difference tonight was we finally got going there a little bit and established a little lead, and they started to get tentative, which is what a young team does,” said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. “They’re going to get a little tentative, especially against the zone, because they can’t do what they do best, which is try to get to the basket.”

Senior Deonta Vaughn, freshman Cashmere Wright and Stephenson finished shooting a combined 8 of 26 from the field.

“I think on some shots we were kind of so eager to match their point when we didn’t get a stop, that we would take a bad shot or make a play that wasn’t there,” Gates said. “I think we should have been more patient on the offensive end, like we were in the first half.”

Even though the Bearcats faded down the stretch, Cronin was still pleased with how his team performed.

“We were able to control the tempo of the game and had the game where we wanted it for 30 minutes,” Cronin said. “I was very proud of our guys’ effort for the most part, but our best three shooters went 2 for 12 from the 3-point line. You’re not going to win when that happens.”

Stephenson had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Vaughn finished with four points and two rebounds.

Gates scored 11 points and added five rebounds.

Junior forward Ibrahima Thomas had a team-high 13 points along with seven rebounds.

The Bearcats play their next two games on the road, the first of which will be against the University of Connecticut at noon Saturday, Feb. 13, at the XL Center.