CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

On Monday afternoon, the Reds announced that they had traded Jason LaRue and his $5.45 million salary to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later. Jason gets an extra $250,000 from the Reds for trading him and the Reds have to pay 'some' of his future salary. OUCH!

On Monday night, the Xavier Musketeers met 8th ranked Alabama in the finals of the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. The Musketeers started the game as cold as the outhouse seat in January and fell behind quickly. The got their shooting eye midway through the first period and closed to within one at the half, 32-31. X broke out on top in the second half and were looking good until the Crimson Tide switched defenses to a zone at the 11:00 point. The Muskies didn't score for about five minutes and could never really solve the zone. Final score: Alabama 63 - Xavier 56.

On Wednesday, the UC Bearcats played the Wofford College Terriers (3-0) at 5th Third arena and lost 91-90. I'm afraid the loss to Wofford portends a woeful season. Deonta Vaughn had 33 points and 6 assists but missed a three at the buzzer. His 33 points were the most by a UC freshman in school history. Wofford was 23 of 29 from the foul line and the Cats were 5 of 8. Yikes! Still no word on Adam H.


On Saturday afternoon, the Bearcat football team took on UCONN at the Huskies home field and came away with a 26-23 win. Kevin Lovell kicked the last of his four field goals with 10 seconds left on the clock to provide the margin of victory. Nick Davilla, who led UC in the Rutgers win last week, replaced an injured Dustin Grutza in the second quarter and passed for 232 yards and two touchdowns. UC ends the regular season at 7-4 and virtually assures themselves of a bowl bid.

Moeller High School graduate, Josh Duncan, led Xavier to a 86-68 win over American University on Saturday afternoon. Duncan had a career high 23 points to go with 8 rebounds and an assist.

The Bearcat basketball squad took the court later in the day and topped Central Michigan in a strange contest at the 5th Third Arena by a score of 60-50. The Cats commited 29 turnovers in the game - second most in school history. They also held CMU to 13 rebounds - third least in school history. Freshman point guard Deonta Vaughn led the team with 19 points.

On Saturday night, the Colerain Cardinals lost to Hilliard Davidson 10-6 at Dayton's Welcome Stadium and with it, a chance to go to the State Division 1 football finals. The Columbus area team held Colerain to their lowest output of the year.

On Sunday, the Bengals traveled up I-71 to abuse their stepchild in the 'mistake on the lake'. This game was noteworthy because it pitted the worst offense in the league against the worst defense in the league. Oh boy. The Bengals whipped their in-state foes to the tune of 30-0. It was their first shutout since 1989. It was good to have a laugher. This sets up their Thursday night showdown on the shores of the Ohio with the 'dirty birds' from Baltimore. I can't wait.

Worst Cincinnati sports news of the week - UC head football coach Mark Dantonio is talking to Michigan State about their coaching vacancy. Say it isn't so.