Cincinnati 82, USI 62 (Exhibition)

CINCINNATI, Ohio—Despite a strong second-half performance, the University of Southern Indiana men's basketball team fell to the University of Cincinnati, 82-62, in its final exhibition game of the season Saturday evening at the Fifth Third Arena.

Senior center Reque Newsome (St. Petersburg, Florida) and junior forward Chris Thompson (Starke, Florida) each scored 11 points but was not enough as the Bearcats' starting forwards combined 55 points and 33 rebounds.

USI, which finishes the exhibition season with a 0-2 mark, found itself in an early tie with the Bearcats. However, UC used runs a 14-0 and 7-0 to build a 17-point advantage (31-14) with just over seven minutes to play in the first half.

The Eagles found themselves down 46-27 at the break after shooting just 30.3 percent from the floor in the opening period and watching the Bearcats connect on half of their 40 first-half attempts from the field.

Behind some solid defensive play and a stronger rebounding performance, the Eagles kept things much closer in the second half. USI, which lost the rebounding battle 52-37, were with in three rebounds of matching the Bearcats 24 second-half boards and held the Bearcats to a 36.1 percent shooting clip.

USI cut the lead to 15 on two different occasions in the second half and closed the game with a 9-0 run.

On the strength of a 4-for-6 shooting night, junior guard/forward Stacy Pearson (Miami, Florida) chipped in eight points, while freshman guard/forward LeVon Parker finished with seven points, all of which came in the second frame.

Newsome led the Eagles with six rebounds and junior guard Danny Gibson (Madison, Indiana) added five rebounds.

Cincinnati was led by Armein Kirkland and Jason Maxiell, who had 22 and 20 points, respectively, while Eric Hicks dominated the paint with 13 points and a game-high 19 rebounds. Roy Bright rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10 points.

USI opens the season Monday with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against Olivet Nazarene University at the Physical Activities Center.