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No. 11 Cincinnati dispatches Arkansas-Little Rock

Dec 7, 2012 - 3:52 AM Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) - Sean Kilpatrick scored 18 points and the No.11 Cincinnati Bearcats easily defeated the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans, 87-53, on Thursday.

Kilpatrick also tallied six rebounds and was one of eight Bearcats (8-0) with at least two steals. He came away with three for the game.

"It was a great effort by our team defensively tonight. Really happy with our pressure," said Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin. "We set a record, seven years as a coach here and we made 70 deflections. I believe we had 39 at half. We also set a record with 22 steals. Tremendous effort on the defensive end."

JaQuon Parker followed with 14 points and Cheikh Mbodj had 12 and seven rebounds to help Cincinnati to its 15th 8-0 start in school history and first since the 1999-00 season.

The Trojans (7-4), who came in winners of three straight, committed 33 turnovers for the game. Will Neighbour, James White and Ben Dillard each scored 10 in the defeat.

"I knew coming in we had to have poise and toughness with the ball," said Trojans coach Steve Shields. "I thought Cincinnati did a good job of taking us out of what we wanted to do offensively and forced us to play at a pace we didn't want to play at."

The Bearcats pounced all over the Trojans early, using a 17-4 run to open up a 28-10 lead with just under seven minutes left in the opening half.

Dillard knocked down a 3-pointer for Arkansas-Little Rock with 5:48 remaining, but Cincinnati followed with another strong run, finishing the period on a 16-4 surge to take a comfortable 44-17 advantage into halftime.

Cincinnati's defense suffocated Arkansas-Little Rock, especially Trojan starters John Gillon and Leroy Isler, throughout the first half.

In the first 20 minutes, the two Trojans combined for half of the team's 18 turnovers, which resulted in 14 points for the Bearcats. Gillon finished with a game-high eight turnovers while Isler totaled seven.

The Trojans were unable to recover from their woeful start and the Bearcats cruised to victory in the second half.

Game Notes

The Bearcats outscored the Trojans 42-20 inside the paint ... Cincinnati manufactured 31 points off the 33 Trojans' turnovers.