Pittsburgh ousts Cincinnati to advance to quarterfinals

#7 Pittsburgh 70 - #10 Cincinnati 64

Pittsburgh continued their mastery in Madison Square Garden, improving to 20-8 at MSG since 2000-01 with a 70-64 win over Cincinnati. Sam Young led four Panthers in double figures with 21 points. Ronald Ramon finished with 12 points, all from 3-point range (4-7 from downtown), Levance Fields had 10 points and six assists, and Keith Benjamin added 15 points and five rebounds.

Without question, freshman Deonta Vaughn single-handedly kept Cincinnati in the game. Vaughn led all scorers with 30 points, including a stretch in the second half where Vaughn scored 20 straight points for the Bearcats. He’s been a one-man show all year long for Cincy, and unfortunately just like what’s been happening all year, the rest of the Bearcats resorted to Vaughn-watching. The rest of the Bearcats combined for 34 points, 21 of which came from Rashad Bishop and Jamual Warren. There was nothing more Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin could ask of Vaughn, who also finished with six assists.

Unlike Vaughn, fellow star freshman DeJuan Blair was harassed all evening by the Bearcats, constantly trying to fend off and fight through double, even triple teams. Blair finished with only two points and six boards. Vaughn pulled Cincinnati to within two points, 56-54, but the Bearcats were running on empty towards the end, and never got any closer. Cincinnati ends their 2007-08 season losers of six consecutive games.

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Pittsburgh advances to the quarterfinals to take on No. 2 seeded Louisville Cardinals on Thursday 7 PM.

by Frank Minniti
BigEast-fans.com Director of Content

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