SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- In many ways, Cincinnati's 74-69 loss to Gonzaga in the opening round of the NCAA West Regional in Salt Lake City was a microcosm of the Bearcats' 2002-03 season.

Suffering offensive droughts and occasional defensive lapses, the Bearcats were never able to establish their own tempo in the game.

Trailing 51-40 with 16:17 to play and having head coach Bob Huggins ejected after receiving a pair of technical fouls, Cincinnati rallied in the final four minutes of the game. Taron Barker drilled a 3-pointer with 31 seconds remaining to close the deficit to three points, 72-69.

UC appeared to get a break when Gonzaga's Tony Skinner missed a dunk on a breakout with the Bearcats bunching their defense to try to get the ball back on the ensuing inbounds.

Cincinnati called time out with 22 seconds to play to set up the game-tying shot. The Bearcats looked a little confused when bringing the ball back into play. Tony Bobbitt launched the shot from deep in the left corner. Skinner redeemed himself for his gaffe by partially blocking the shot, which fell short and was rebounded by Blake Stepp.

Two game-clinching free throws later, Cincinnati's season was over.

The Bearcats, who were the tourney's No. 8 seed, finished with a 17-12 record, their fewest wins and worst percentage of Huggins' 14-year coaching tenure. Gonzaga, the No. 9 seed, advanced with a 24-8 record to face No. 1 seed Arizona in second round action Saturday.

"I don't know if this is any more disappointing than any other year," stated Huggins. "We don't feel good when we lose. I don't think you are supposed to feel good when you lose. We had a lot of things happen and we've had a lot of things happen (during the season) that we didn't think were necessarily going to happen."

Barker led UC with 16 points, and going 5-of-9 from the field, 4-of-8 from 3-point range, was the only consistent perimeter scorer. Armein Kirkland was the only other Bearcat to reach double figures with 10 points.

Ronny Turiaf led Gonzaga with 22 points, picking up 16 of them at the foul line. Cory Violette added 14 and Blake Stepp 12.

Gonzaga, after shooting .538 in the first half, was cooled in the second 20 minutes (.286) and finished with a .426 percentage. UC shot .394.

Cincinnati missed its first three shots of the game while Gonzaga made its first three, two of them from 3-point range, and the game of catch-up began for UC.

Tony Bobbitt and Rod Flowers, the latter playing for the first time in five games, came off the bench to put some life in Cincinnati's offense. Bobbitt tallied five first-half points and Flowers added seven. UC captured its first lead at the 11:32 mark in Flowers' layup.

The Bearcats had a 27-23 lead with 5:15 to play in the first half. UC was outscored, 9-0, over the next four minutes and trailed 40-32 at the half.

"I thought we played okay early but we didn't get back," stated UC head coach Bob Huggins. "The whole game turned when we gave them the baskets in transition. Between not getting back and not attacking their zone, we let them get the lead in the first half."


NOTES:
• Leonard Stokes, who had seven points, finished with a career total of 1,318. He moved up to 17th place on UC's career scoring list, ahead of Damon Flint (1,316, 1994-97).

• Taron Barker concluded his two-year Cincinnati career with 268 points (4.5 ppg) and 184 assists (3.1). He also finished with a .398 3-point field goal percentage, but he does not have enough shots to qualify for the school career record.

• Armein Kirkland had a strong finish to his freshman season. He averaged 10.3 points over his last four games.

• UC finished with a defensive field goal percentage of .401 for the season, only the second time in the past eight years that the Bearcats have allowed their opponents to shoot .400 or better.