Xavier Inhospitable To Old Friends The Miami Redhawks

The Xavier Musketeers pulled away from its old time rival, the Miami Redhawks  from the mythical Miami Valley Conference to win the first contest between the two neighbors, 82-55.

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The pair along with The Cincinnati Bearcats and Dayton Flyers all within a 50 mile radius of each other played annually at one time.  Now television revenue and conference rules limit the games among the local foursome.

The Musketeers (4-3) have now won four straight games in the series to lead 55-47 all time.  Miami fell to (3-4).

Naji Marshall and Tyrique Jones paced Xavier's inside scoring attack against the smaller Miami squad. Jones had a double double sewn up at the mid point of the second half with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

"We played better with a lead for the first time this year," Xavier coach Travis Steele said.  "It starts with the readiness.  Teams have shot over 40 percent from three-point range this year until tonight.  We were ready to be there on the catch.  Nike Sibande and Delonte Brown can light it up if you don't."

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Jones finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds.  Marshall finished with 17 points.  Paul Scruggs had 12.  The Musketeers committed just three turnovers. It tied the teams record for fewest in a game.  The last time they turned the ball over that few times was in 2004.

"In practice if we turn the ball over three times in a row we have to run sprints.  It helps us learn to take care of the ball," Quentin Goodin said.  The Musketeers only had one in the last 20 minutes.  Miami had 14 miscues.

"We started the way we wanted to," Miami coach Jack Owens said.  "Bam was doing his thing but he got into foul trouble.  Xavier did a good job to bottle them up.  I think also we settled for too many jump shots.  I thought we should have driven the ball more."
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The Musketeers fell behind early but took the lead a 13-12 with 14 minutes left in the first half and expanded the lead with a 15-5 run over the last six minutes to forge a 42-28 lead at the break.

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The Musketeers led by 23 points five minutes into the second half.

Bam Bowman was Miami's leading scorer with 15 points but was in foul trouble most of the second half.  Nike Sibande, Miami's leading scorer on the season, had eight poitns for the Redhawks.

"We knew Sibande is a good three-point shooter.  We just tried to know where he was on the court at all times," Marshall said.

"I had some good looks but I missed shots I usually make.  Delonte (Brown) was the same way.  We just missed shots.  We will get into the gym and work on it," Sibande said.

Xavier shot 54% from the field for the game. Miami made 33%.  Miami took two more shots than the Musketeers did but Xavier had 33 field goals to the Redhawks 21.  In spite of being smaller all over the court.  Miami had 41 rebounds.  The Musketeers had 33. The Redhawks rebounded 17 of its own misses that led to 16 second chance points.

"I'm proud of the way we outrebounded them in their own building," Owens said.

Xavier And Miami Meet As Old Competitors

What was once an annual neighborhood rivalry is being played for the first time in three years.

Xavier (3-3) had to replace its top three scorers from last season.  Miami starts three sophomores.

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The Musketeers hold a slim lead over the all-time series at 53-48 and was the winner in the last three meetings.

Miami is also 3-3 with wins over Midway, North Dakota State and Army.  The Redhawks were 1-2 in the Bahamas Showcase with losses to Montana and Pepperdine.  Butler defeated them 90-68 on November 10.

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Xavier beat IUPUI and Evansville but lost to Wisconsin at the Cintas Center ending a non-conference winning streak at 46.

The Musketeers are led by Quentin Goodin, who has recovered from shoulder injuries early in the season.  He leads with a 15.0 points-per-game scoring average.  Paul Scruggs averages 12.0, Naji Marshall 12.3, Zach Hankins 11 and Tyrique Jones scores 10.5 per game.   Jones leads the rebounding with 8.3 per game,

Sophomore Nike Sibande leads the Redhawks in scoring with an 18.5 scoring average.  Delonte Brown is a close second with 17.5 points-per-game.  Brown is also the leading rebounder with 6.7 per game.

Wisconsin Takes Xavier Down For A Rare Cintas Center Loss

The Xavier Musketeers and Wisconsin Badgers met for the seventh time since 1938 at the Cintas Center Tuesday night.

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The teams were 3-3 all time but Wisconsin took a lead in the competitive series.

D'Mitrik Trice scored 22 points and Ethan Happ 30 to lead Wisconsin to a win over the Musketeers, 77-68.  The performances helped the Badgers end Xavier' streak of 41 straight non-conference wins at the Cintas Center.

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The teams split the last two with Xavier winning in Madison, Wisconsin, 80-70 last season.  Wisconsin broke Xavier's heart in the 2016 NCAA second round game when the Badgers overcame a nine point deficit with six minutes left to eliminate the Musketeers, 66-63 on a last second 3-point shot.

Xavier put together a 12-4 run to over the last 4:38 to close the halftime gap to two points at 3-0-28. Naji Marshall's last second drive to the basket produced the halftime margin.

Wisconsin (2-0) stormed out of the locker room in the second half to build an 18 point lead with 6:00 minutes left.  Xavier was able to cut the lead to nine points  with 2:26 left but a 3-point shot by Brad Davison, which gave him 19 points with 53 seconds gave the Badgers a commanding lead down the stretch.

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All Xavier (2-1) could do was foul at the end. Although Marshall sank a 3-point shot with 30 seconds left.

Marshall led Xavier with 24 points. Quentin Goodin scored 13 for the Musketeers.

Trice, who is from Huber Heights, Ohio and played basketball and football at Wayne, is healthy after a foot injury last season.   and He missed the last 23 games of the season.  The Badgers were 11-12 without Trice.

This means every thing to come back here with 25 plus people to see me," Trice said.  "Coming back to Ohio, an hour away from where I'm from, is just amazing."

His presence provides a powerful inside out game with Happ which was devastating to the Musketeers.

"It is good to have everybody healthy right now," Trice said.  "We're down Aleem (Ford) right now but when we get him back in the next few weeks, we're going to be even more dangerous than we are right now.  I think that we have a lot of weapons and a lot of people are playing with confidence.  That's a great thing to go into the season."

Trice was 5-for-5 from three point range and fed Happ and Davison with five assists.  The Badgers made nine of 16 three point shots as a team.  Xavier was just -5-for-24 from outside the arc.

 "We just lost focus on the defensive end, lost our intensity," Marshall said. "That's kind of been our deal since the season started. We've got to lock in and play the whole game. We've got to grow as a team. You can see Wisconsin down the stretch, they executed and we fell asleep on defense."

Marshall gave Wisconsin credit for shutting down a Xavier team that lost its top three scorers to graduation.

"It's not like they were forcing us to take those shots," Marshall said. "We've got to mature as a whole group and get better shots."

Wisconsin outrebounded the Musketeers 40-32 and 12-9 on the offensive end.

Xavier will host Houston Baptist at 7:00 on Saturday before taking on Stanford in Hawii.

Cincinnati Rides Bulls To Third Straight Win

The tourists from Florida came out for "warm ups" shirtless.  The home team left them in the cold.

A 57-yard touchdown run by Michael Warren II early in the second half sent the Cincinnati Bearcats to its third straight win and the University of South Florida Bulls to its third straight loss, 35-23.

It was a cold way to treat a guest. The Bearcats stayed hot and stand at 9-1 (5-1) with a date with the unbeaten University of Central Florida.  USF which was ranked 19th at one time and were without starting quarterback Blake Barnett, are 7-3 (3-3).

Bulls, coming off two straight losses held a 16-14 halftime lead over the Cincinnati Bearcats at Nippert Stadium.

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USF defense held the Bearcats to a pair of scores in the first half but had been shredded against Houston, which set a scoring record for USF opponents with 57 points, then in a follow up against Tulane surrendered 41

Warren added a three-yard run with 5:42 left in the third quarter to give the Bearcats a commanding lead.  UC stopped the Bulls deep in its own territory then got an fair catch interference penalty that se the home team on the USF 37.

Ridder immediately connected with Rashad Madaris on a 43-yard pass play and a 31-yard strike to the same receiver to the one.  Warren scored his third touchdown of the half and fourth of the game to reset the lead.

The four touchdown gave Warren a record 18 for the season passing David Small's record from 1993.

"I wasn't aware. I didn't even know what the numbers were," Warren said.  Three touchdowns came in the second half when Cincinnati wasn't doing much on offense in the first half.

It's all about being patient. Don't be frustrated," Warren said.

The Bulls fought back when Chris Oladokun threw a 25-yard pass that Tyre McCants caught with a leaping grab at the goal line over James Wiggins.

Brett Kean and Oladokun threw thouchdown passes for the University of South Florida Bulls in the first half.  Oladokun found Ryshen Bronson on a post pattern on the Bulls second play of the game in his first start.   Kean took over in the second quarter to find Mitch Wilcox wide open for a 38 yard score.

The USF team didn't play a single game in which the temperature was below 40 degrees since 2013.  It was the topic of conversation in practice this week.  It was 26 degrees by the end of the game.

"The weather didn't affect us at all," Oladokun said.  "We talked about the weather all week. We knew how cold it was going to be mentally it wasn't a block for us at all. Coach told us on Sunday I believe.  We're coming out with our shirts off and setting the tone.  We came out with great energy but in the second half we got a little flat."

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The Bulls and Bearcats alternated scoring passes.  Desmond Ridder threw passes to Kahill Lewis for eight yards and Michael Warren II for 13 yards between the Bulls touchdowns.

Michael Pitts blocked the extra point on the Bronson score but Coby Weiss kicked a 37-yard field goal to give USF a two-point halftime lead.

"We pretty well the first half and did not put it together the second half," second year Bulls coach Charlie Strong said.  "We  can't give up three scores in the third quarter especially on the road.  We have to sustain drives and weren't able to.  We watched Blake all week and hoped he'd get better but by Friday we had to make a decision to go with the two quarterbacks.  With what they were trying to do to us we thought Chris could use his legs to make some plays to get out of danger.  The quarterbacks played alright.  We had to catch the ball we dropped too many passes."

Cincinnati's second year head coach Luke Fickell felt the same way.

It was a tale of two halves," Fickell said. "I don't know that we had a lot of control in the first half."

Cincinnati lost its bid to lead at the break when Cole Smith's 36-yard attempt was wide right.

Warren rushed for 151 yards on 28 carries and .  He also caught two passes for 27 yards.  Ridder ran for  60 yards on 18 carries.  He completed 17 of 24 passes for 194 yards.

The weather was just fine for Toledo native Warren.  Fickell said, "He's built for November."

"Where I'm from, we play all the way through December," Warren said.

Oladokun was 10 for 22 and 165 yards,  Johnny Ford was the Bulls leading rusher with 63 yards on 10 carries.

The Bearcats have already eclipsed the total wins of the last two seasons with back-to-back 4-8 records.

It's an exciting time," Fickell said. "This is what I wanted for these guys, the opportunity to play for a championship.   Somebody said it's like a redemption tour.  If we look back at last year, there's nothing to overlook. Our maturity will have to show, how we handle this stuff. We've shown it enough so far. The way our seniors are playing, I'm excited.

UCF beat up the Bearcats 51-23 last season.

USF Holds Halftime Lead

The University of South Florida Bulls, coming off two straight losses held a 16-14 halftime lead over the Cincinnati Bearcats at Nippert Stadium

Brett Kean and Chris Oladokun threw thouchdown passes for the University of South Florida Bulls in the first half.  Oladokun found Ryshen Bronson on a post pattern on the Bulls second play of the game in his first start.   Kean took over in the second quarter to find Mitch Wilcox wide open for a 38 yard score.

The Bulls and Bearcats alternated scoring passes.  Desmond Ridder threw passes to Kahill Lewis for eight yards and Michael Warren II for 13 yards between the Bulls touchdowns.

Michael Pitts blocked the extra point on the Bronson score but Coby Weiss kicked a 37-yard field goal to give USF a two-point halftime lead.

Cincinnati lost its bid to lead at the break when Cole Smith's 36-yard attempt was wide right.

Travis Steele Wins First Game As Xavier's Head Coach Over IUPUI

Ryan Welage became an instant fan favorite on Victory Parkway and Travis Steele won his first game as head coach.

The Graduate transfer went on a personal nine-point scoring binge to help the Xavier Musketeers recover for a 82-69 win over the Jaguars of Indiana University Purdue University of Indianapolis in the season opener for both squads.

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The Xavier Musketeers scored the first 10 points of the game but was clinging to a 37-34 lead at the half against the Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis Jaguars.

The Jaguars tied the game with a 3-point shot by Jalen Minnett tied the game right out of the halftime break.

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Welage's mid second half spree turned a 47-46 lead into a 57-50 lead with12:08 left in the game.  He scored 24 points by sinking six of 13 3-pointers to lead the Musketeers.  Tyrique Jones added 17 points in the paint.  Naji Marshall chipped in with 13 points.

When Welage got hot he created a fan club from among his teammates too.

"I was on sideline cheering," Jones said. "Coach drew up a couple good hitters for him to get him shots and he made them. That's what he does in practice every day."

"That was an unbelievable feeling, really," Welage said. "To play my first real game at Cintas with my teammates.  My teammates got me great looks. Once I hit one or two, they started looking for me, and coach drew up a play or two that got me good looks."

Xavier held IUPUI without a field goal for over five minutes down the stretch.

Minnett has 21 points for the Jaguars. Jack Hansen had 10.

The Musketeers had to play without Quentin Goodin, who is injured.   Paul Scruggs was missing in the second half when IUPUI completed their run.

"Both of the Grad transfers have been a tremendous additions to our team.  Ryan is a really good shooter.  I think he can do more for us," Steele said.  "Without Q right now they will have to do more."

The Jaguars competed until Welage took over.

"He had good looks in the first half but they weren't falling," Steele said.  "I told him to keep shooting they would fall.  Tyrique (Jones) made some effort plays."

The Jaguars made the effort plays in stretches but not enough to convert those plays into a win.

"They (Xavier) do a great job moving the ball," IUPUI coach Jason Gardner said.  "There was that one stint where we couldn't get the rebound.  They did a good job of crashing the glass."

That was the segment of the game that Jones played with greater intensity.

"I thought our guys competed and fought all the way to the end.  I thought we did some good things by moving the ball and defending." Gardner said.  "We just came up short.  We have to do a better job on our turnovers.  We had some silly turnovers.  We have to get better on the glass."

Steele told the Musketeers to get used to the challenge.

"I told my guys it is going to be hard all year," Steele said.  "We need effort every night."

Xavier Opens Season With New Coach

The season came to a bitter end for the Xavier Musketeers last season.

The team scratched and clawed its way to its highest NCAA tournament seeding ever only to have the season crash to a Florida State team in the second round.   Trevon Bluiett, the team's highest scorer and four-year starter J.P Macura were lost to graduation.

To make matters worst Chris Mack, its talented alumni head coach headed for greener pastures at the University of Louisville.

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His top assistant Travis Steele took over the program and leads a team  of underclassmen and three graduate transfers in his first season which opens against the Indiana University - Purdue University of Indianapolis Jaguars.

Steele was named head coach on March 31, after 10 seasons as an assistant.  He was the top assistant to Mack for nine seasons.

Steele has been an assistant at Indiana University, Wabash Valley College and a graduate assistant for Thad Motta at Ohio State.

Sophomore Naji Marshall, Junior Quentin Goodin are joined by newcomers, Ryan Welage, a graduate transfer from San Jose State, Zach Hankins a GR from Ferris State and sophomores Paul Scruggs and Elias Harden, both of whom will get more floor time this season.  Grad transfer from Columbia will start in place of the injured Goodin,

IUPUI of the Horizon League.  The Horizon League features Northern Kentucky and Wright State, locally.

The Jaguars start a more experienced squad with 6'6" D.J. McCall and 6'7" Evan Hall both seniors along with junior guard Camron Justice, who scored 19 points per game last season. Hall averaged a double-double last season with 10 ppg and a team leading 12 rebounds per game.

IUPUI was 8-10 last season in the Horizon League and 11-19 overall.

Reds To Celebrate 150 Years Of Professional Baseball All Season

Every sportsminded Cincinnati area native can tell you that the Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first professional baseball franchise.

On May 4th 1869, the Reds' forefathers won the first of the 59 games they played, going undefeated.  They were the first to openly pay all of its players.  That was the birth of the Major Leagues as we know it today

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There were other historic firsts.  The franchise was the first team to travel by airplane.  They were the first to play under the lights at night.

The 2019 season will be a season long celebration of that historic beginning.  With "birthday" parties and historic uniforms that will delight the baseball fan, who collectively revel in baseballs continuity as well as growth throughout history.  Baseball's rules have never radically changed.  The administration of the sport has but the distance between the pitcher and home plate.  The distance between bases and the scoring rules are a comfortable constant.  If a player were to travel forward in time from 1869, he would see changes but would recognize the game.

Every weekend starting May 4, the Reds' players will wear historic, period uniforms, painstakingly researched the the Reds Hall of Fame staff.

Click on the link below to see the uniforms.

https://youtu.be/lfUvFsYcpCE 

Even fans not attending games will be free to roam the grounds to soak in the game atmosphere with a 19th century Gazebo on Joe Nuxhall Way, named after the club's long time announcer and the youngest player to play in Major League baseball at 15,

The annual Findlay Market opening day parade will be in its 100th year this season.

"We are just getting warmed up," Reds' Vice President of Business Operations said,  "You can't have a gala with coats and ties.  That's not a way to celebrate for 150-mile radius of Reds' country.  We will have a rocking 150 Reds' open house."

The party will be Friday July 5th which is a rare Friday off day.

It will be free to any Reds' fan.  Players will participate.  Rock bands will be playing.  Three Huey helicopters will be available for fans to inspect.   The celebration will include fireworks.

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Bearcats Torpedo Navy For Eighth Win Of The Season

The Cincinnati Bearcats used the land to attack the Navy Midshipmen to earn its eighth win of the season.  The Bearcats limited a Navy offense that rushed for 569 yards in a 42-32 Navy win last season.

The young Bearcats turned the tables on the Midshipmen with a ground oriented 42-0 win over a 2-7 Navy squad.  Cincinnati defeated the Navy for the first time after three losses.  It was the first time that Navy has been shut out since 2012 when San Jose State beat them in a 12-0 contest.

"We needed to get something going," Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "We needed something we were 2-6. I can't remember the last time we got shutout."

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UC learned from the beating they took last year.

"What we went through last year, we learned from it. Last year’s game against them was an eye-opener. There weren’t a lot of big runs and big cutbacks," Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell said.

Cincinnati scored three rushing touchdowns and one through the air to take a 28-0 lead.  Michael Warren II and Desmond Ridder combined for 131 rushing yards in the first half.  Hayden Moore completed an 11-yard pass to Josiah Deguara with 32 seconds left in the first half to extend the lead into the break.  Charles McClelland contributed 27 yards in the half.

The Bearcats' triumphant return came after two road overtime games, a loss to Temple and a win over Southern Methodist.

"It was electric," Fickell said. "That had some motivation to the way we played, the way we started. We got out front and you can play a little different defensively."

"We got our butts whooped, starting with me," Niumatalolo said.  "We got out coached.  Rick's done a pretty good job with their program but the butt whooping started with me. The credit goes to them they played well."

"Schematically, they changed,  They're a 4-3 team. They came out with an eight man front but they executed.  They played physical.  Temple lines up like that.  Rutgers we see that a lot but they are a really good, well coached football team."

Defensive tackle Cortez Broughton noted that Fickell ran the scout team to prepare them for Navy as well as changing up the defensive set.

 "You’ve got four linebackers just giving it everything they’ve got, Broughton said. "The drills we did in practice – I thought somebody wa going to get hurt. We needed that to take it to the next level."

"What did they have last year, 567 rushing yards?  He definitely put it in our heads this week," wide reciever Rashad Madaris said.

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Ridder completed nine of 12 passes for an even 100 yards before Moore took the helm.

Navy kept up a ground assault, picking up 56 yards.  Navy quarterback, Zach Abey was sacked three times in the half and didn't get one of his three attempts off.  It resulted in 18 yards of loss for the Midshipmen.

The Bearcats used an air assault on its first possession of the second half.  Ridder returned to complete three passes in five attempt to cover 76 yards.  Cincinnati's fifth touchdown was the result of a 55-yard connection to Rashad Madaris.

Ridder piped Moore aboard after that drive, finishing with 178 yards passing and 66 yards rushing.  Warren II rested the second half as McClelland took off for a 40-yard touchdown run that made him the Bearcats leader with 85 yards on the ground.

Abey completed his first pass in the second half with 5:00 minutes left in the third quarter, a 32-yard play to Malcolm Perry.  He finished 3-for-4 for 47 yards.  Abey was the leading Navy rusher with 74 yards in 28 attempts.  Abey suffered five sacks for a total of 37 yards, that are deducted from his rushing totals.

"We just got outplayed in all aspects," Abey said.  "They out toughed us.  They had a good scheme we couldn't recover from.  Our answers didn't match their answers. Getting shutout was embarrassing.  They adjusted to our adjustments."

DT Cortez Broughton



(Fickell ran the scout team, they felt prepared, how much did that matter) A lot. So when we went against Navy, it was second-nature.



(different scheme with four LBs)



WR Rashad Medaris



(on his long TD catch) He definitely threaded the needle on that.



(how much last year’s game vs Navy was referenced)


(AAC race) We understand that UFC is No. 1 in the conference. We’ve got to win every game to compete for the conference championship.

Cincinnati Wrecks Navy In The First Half

The Cincinnati Bearcats used the land to attack the Navy Midshipmen.

Cincinnati scored three rushing touchdowns and one through the air to take a 28-0 lead.  Michael Warren II and Desmond Ridder combined for 131 rushing yards in the first half.  Hayden Moore completed an 11-yard pass to Josiah Deguara with 32 seconds left in the first half to extend the lead into the break.  Charles McClelland contributed 27 yards in the half.

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Ridder completed nine of 12 passes for an even 100 yards before Moore took the helm.

Navy kept up a ground assault, picking up 56 yards.  Navy quarterback, Zach Abey was sacked three times in the half and didn't get one of his three attempts off.  It resulted in 18 yards of loss for the Midshipmen.

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Bearcats Hope To Sink Navy

The 7-1 Cincinnati Bearcats take on the Midshipmen of the Naval Academy this afternoon at Nippert Stadium with the kickoff at 3:30.

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The Bearcats are home for the first time in three weeks, having a buy and splitting two road games in overtime.  Cincinnati lost in OT to Temple and used an overtime interception return to defeat Southern Methodist University last Saturday.

Navy is 2-6 with only a one point win over Memphis.   The lone common opponent is Temple.  The Owls earned a 24-17 win over the future Admirals.  Notre Dame doubled up on Navy with a 44-22 win over the option minded Midshipmen.