Bearcats Ice Down Hoyas

Despite the frightful weather outside of Fifth Third Arena, Mick Cronin got his team in position to knock off their first ranked opponent of the season.

Having seen his team struggle at the of opening Big East play, Bearcats head coach Mick Cronin has seen the Bearcats show signs of life. Cronin must feel good about how his team performed against 25th ranked Georgetown on Wednesday night as the Bearcats knocked off the Hoyas 65-57.

The Bearcats victory moved them to 14-7 overall and 4-4 in Big East play. The win also means Cronin’s Bearcats have surpassed their win total from last season.

Leading the way was the dependable Deonta Vaughn and freshman Dion Dixon who keyed the Bearcats down the stretch scoring 22 of the teams 38 second half points. Dixon stressed Coach Cronin helped him gain confidence in his abilities.

“I’m confident. At first I was a little shaky, but coach told me to go and just play through my mistakes.”

But while the scoring of Vaughn and Dixon were key, Cronin knows it was good old-fashion defense that set up one of the biggest victories in his time as the head coach of the Bearcats.

“A tremendous defensive effort for our guys. We gave up zero back doors for the game. They probably make two back doors a possession, and our guys gave up none.”

Overall the Bearcats out shot and out rebounded Georgetown on the night where being inside was much better that what was found outside of the arena. Vaughn would lead all scorers with 20 points and Mike Williams went 5-7 for 12 points and 6 boards.

The Bearcats have won four of their past five conference games and will travel to Philadelphia for a Sunday match-up with Villanova.