Washington Falls to No. 8 Cincinnati

Danny Fortson scored 22 points and Darnell Burton had 19 as No. 8 Cincinnati defeated Washington, 82-69, Monday night at Seattle.

The Bearcats made the trip to Seattle because they owed Washington a game under a two-game contract. The Huskies visited Cincinnati in 1993.

Cincinnati (18-4) outscored Washington, 14-7, in the final 3:56 after the Huskies closed to within 68-62 when Donald Watts drove for a dunk.

Mark Sanford led Washington (13-7) with 18 points.

The biggest play of the game came after Washington sliced Cincinnati’s lead to six points.

Bobby Brannen’s 10-footer bounced high and dropped into the basket for Cincinnati, while Fortson was fouled on the play. Fortson made both free throws to give the Bearcats a 72-62 lead with 3:24 left.

After a free throw by the Huskies, Damon Flint responded with an alley-oop dunk before Washington’s Jamie Booker made two free throws. Then Fortson scored on a layup, Charles Williams connected on a free throw and Flint made a five-footer on a fastbreak for a 79-65 lead for Cincinnati with 1:09 to go.

Cincinnati led, 54-39, with 13 minutes left before the Huskies switched to a zone.

The Huskies were hurt when their two 7-footers, Todd MacCulloch and Patrick Femerling, fouled out with 6:12 and 5:50 to go, respectively.

OTHER GAMES

Shea Seals scored 31 points to lead Tulsa (18-6, 8-2) to a home-court 91-75 victory over San Jose State (10-10, 2-8) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Tulsa. . . . Miami (15-6, 9-4) held Seton Hall (8-14, 3-10) to seven baskets in the final 26:39 in a 61-51 victory at East Rutherford, N.J. and gained sole possession of first place in the Big East 7 division. . . . Paco May had 13 points as Kansas State (9-12, 2-9) won its second consecutive Big 12 game, defeating Nebraska (12-11, 4-7), 61-53, at Manhattan, Kan. . . . Chris Watson had a game-high 24 points to lead Niagara (9-3, 4-6) to a 65-60 victory over Fairfield (6-15, 1-9) in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference action at Buffalo, N.Y. . . . Mike Gizzi scored 19 points as La Salle (8-12, 3-7) snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 59-56 Atlantic 10 victory over Virginia Tech (13-10, 6-5) at Philadelphia. . . . Bradley (10-10, 7-6) outscored Southern Illinois (13-11, 6-7), 20-1, in the final 5:53 and won, 55-53, on Anthony Parker’s 40-footer at the buzzer in Missouri Valley Conference play at Carbondale, Ill.

College Basketball Notes

Ricky Byrdsong was fired as coach of Northwestern but will remain on the job through the end of the season--unless his players want him to leave sooner. Byrdsong, 40, did not attend the news conference but released a statement that he would let his players decide whether he coaches the Wildcats’ final seven games. The Wildcats are 6-16 overall and 1-10 in the Big Ten this season.