CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

CINCINNATI SPORTS LAST WEEK

The Reds played an intra-squad game on Wednesday. Summer can't be far away.

Later that afternoon, the Bengals released linebacker Brian Simmons. It came as a bit of a shock. The word is that it gives them salary cap room to make some free agent acquisitions.

Wednesday night, the Bearcats hosted the Seton Hall Pirates of the Big East on Senior Night at Fifth Third Arena. The Cats brought a ten game losing streak into the game but were able to avoid further humiliation with a wild 70-67 overtime win. Cincinnati's poor shooting kept the Hall in the game. Deonta Vaughn had 20 points including a big 3-pointer in OT to lead the Bearcats.

Across town, the Musketeers hosted St. Joseph University on Senior Night and two of them led Xavier to a 7th straight victory, 72-62. Justin Doellman had 15 and Justin Cage had 12 points for the Muskies. Xavier maintained a double digit lead from the middle of the first half and coasted for the win. XU holds onto a share of first place in the A10.

On Thursday, the Reds started Grapefruit league play. They won with 5 wind-assisted home runs but the day was significant because it brought together for the first time our new radio broadcasting crew: Marty Brennaman, Thom Brennaman, and Jeff Brantley. We may not field the best team in baseball but....

On Monday, Fenwick amazingly won its second game in the state tournament by beating Dixie 51-45. Winton Woods got knocked out of the tournament by Loveland on Tuesday night. On Friday night, Fenwick again stunned the local sports world by winning its third straight tournament game. After winning only three games in the entire regular season, they beat Jefferson 43-41 with a wild fourth quarter rally and will now play Oakwood next Thursday. On Saturday afternoon, Hamilton High met Lakota East in division 1 tournament action and advanced with a 65-53 win.

In the state wrestling tournament, Bo Touris of Lakota West won the 112 lb division title; Germane Lindsey of Moeller won the 140 lb division and Frank Becker of Moeller won the 285 lb division. Last year no Cincinnati wrestler won a title.

Saturday afternoon, Xavier played the La Salle Explorers in Philadelphia and came away with their eighth straight win, 76-65. Drew Lavender continued his hot hand with 20 points as the Muskies clinched the A10 championship (same record as UMass) and the number one seed in the league tournament starting this week. Xavier trailed most of the first half and really didn't take control of the game until about five minutes remained. XU finishes the regular season schedule with a great 23-7 record.

The Cincinnati Bearcats played their last game of the season in Morgantown, West Virginia against the Mountaineers whom they had defeated earlier in the season. This time the West Virginia bombers hit their 3-point shots and smothered the Cats 79-65. The Mountaineers are near the top in the country for 3-point shots attempted and made. They hit 14 of them today compared to 5 for Cincinnati. Cedric McGowan had 16 points in his final game as a Bearcat.

The Reds were 4-0 this week.