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News Nuggets, 02.13.05
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

C-USA roundup: The 'other Diener' helps nail Cincy

ROSEMONT, IL — DePaul made sure from the start the rematch with Cincinnati would be different. Quemont Greer scored 25 points and Drake Diener added 22 to lead the Blue Demons to an 85-66 victory over No. 21 Cincinnati on Saturday.

The Bearcats beat DePaul 83-54 in Cincinnati on Jan. 6, but the Blue Demons dominated almost every phase of the rematch to win their fourth straight game and eighth of nine.

In other Conference USA games, No. 9 Louisville defeated South Florida 65-57, Memphis crushed Tulane 103-71, Houston handled Southern Mississippi 75-53, Texas Christian topped UAB 76-65, and in a pair of overtime contests, Charlotte edged Saint Louis 83-78 and Marquette squeaked by East Carolina 71-69.

DePaul was aggressive offensively right from the start against the Bearcats, something the Blue Demons didn't do the first time they played Cincinnati.

``That was our game plan coming into today, to just attack and be aggressive and get to the basket. We have great players so we were able to finish,'' said DePaul's Sammy Mejia, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds. ``We were really aggressive offensively and they seemed kind of surprised.''

Leading 57-45 with 14:33 left, DePaul (16-5, 8-2 Conference USA) went on a 16-4 run. Mejia started the spurt with a 3-pointer and had nine points in it. Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins was called for a technical foul for arguing with an official during the span. Mejia capped the run with consecutive jumpers that extended the lead to 73-49 with 9:03 to play.

Diener hit his sixth 3 of the game to increase DePaul's lead to 79-54 with 6:22 left in the game.

``The way they took it to us at their place (and) to come back from that really shows us how far we have come,'' Diener said.

Diener, incidentally, is the brother of Travis Diener, who scored 31 points, including the deciding basket, to lead Marquette to its first win ever on ECU's home court.

Eric Hicks had 22 points for Cincinnati (18-6, 6-4), which has lost three straight conference games. Jason Maxiell scored 18 points for the Bearcats, who were outrebounded 39-28.

Huggins wasn't thrilled with Cincinnati's schedule, that had the Bearcats playing at Charlotte on Saturday, then Xavier on Thursday in Cincinnati, while DePaul had almost a week to prepare after playing at Saint Louis on Sunday.

``It's not right, it's wrong, it's not fair to the kids,'' Huggins said.

But Huggins didn't want to take anything away from DePaul.

``They were absolutely terrific. They had an answer for everything we tried to do,'' Huggins said.

Greer was 8-of-13 from the field, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. He played only 8 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, but scored 16 points in the second half.

LeVar Seals banked in a jump shot to give DePaul a 41-28 lead with 2:05 left in the first half and the Blue Demons were up 43-33 at halftime. DePaul was able to penetrate for easy baskets and Huggins tried to send a message by playing seldom-used freshman walk-on Ryan Patzwald late in the first half.

Coach suspended over incident with officials

OGDEN, UT — The Big Sky Conference on Friday suspended Sacramento State men's basketball coach Jerome Jenkins for one game for comments he made about officials and for ``failure to control'' players and staff following Thursday's close loss to Weber State.

``The Big Sky Code includes a zero tolerance policy for public comments critical of officials,'' Commissioner Doug Fullerton said in a written statement. ``As importantly, the behavior of his players and some of his staff following the game was completely unacceptable. The behavior created an explosive environment. We were fortunate that this incident did not escalate.''

Jenkins was suspended for Saturday's game at Idaho State and received a reprimand, the conference said.

With just seconds left in the game, Weber State's Coric Riggs picked up a loose ball that had been slapped away from Sacramento State's Jason Harris. Riggs raced down the court and sunk a layup as the buzzer sounded.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that it took game officials a couple of seconds to rule the basket good. When they did, Jenkins charged toward the officials and had to be restrained by security, the Tribune reported.

The newspaper said that one Sacramento State player challenged spectators to fights and another made inappropriate gestures at Weber State fans as he left the court.

``In this type of situation, I hold the head coach responsible for the actions of his players and staff,'' Fullerton said.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from Associated Press and other sources. Copyright 2005 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007 12:21 PM