The 2010 edition of Senior Night got off to a quick start for Cincinnati and  Unfortunately, it didn't end that way, and the Bearcats suffered a 75-71 defeat at the hands of the Villanova Wildcats.  With the loss, the Bearcats record now stands at 16-13 (7-10 Big East) with one regular season game left to play.

"This was obviously a very hard-fought game," said Cronin after the game.  "I was very proud of our guys.  They had every opportunity to fold.  They had some tough calls against them,  and continued to battle back.  We just couldn't make a shot for long periods of time."

Deonta Vaughn, one of just two Bearcats to be honored on Senior night, made quite an impression in his final game at Fifth Third Arena.  Vaughn finished the game with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting, but it simply wasn't enough.

Toyloy, the other of the two to be honored scored  2 points and pulled down 1 rebound.

After the game, Deonta Vaughn talked about the final home game of his career.

"I think I kept it together pretty well," said Vaughn.  "It's a tough way to end your career at home with a loss, but I'm proud of us as a team that we didn't give up and we played well the entire game.  We just missed some shots that we normally hit."

His head coach had a few kind words for him after the game as well.

"He's a great player and he gives us everything he's got every time out," said Mick Cronin of his senior leader.  "I thought he did a great job of preparing for this game, and he showed great leadership in the locker room tonight.  I was proud of him, but it would have been nice to get him a win against a great team on senior night."

He continued on when asked about how he would look back on his time spent at Cincinnati,

"I'll come back to games and come to the locker room and tell them what they can do, and give them some good advice on how they can succeed on the court."

On this night, the guard play of Villanova outstanding.  After failing to score in the first half, Scotty Reynolds took over, scoring eighteen points in the second half.  They did a nice job of keeping the Bearcats defense off balance, opening up plenty of opportunities down low for the Wildcat big men.

After the game, Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin talked about the Villanova guard play, and said the game essentially came down to one thing.

"It's a pretty simple game," said Cronin.  "One team is hitting their open shots, and the other is not."

However, despite battling solid shooting from the Wildcats, a few mind-boggling calls from the officials, and atrocious shooting from behind the arc on their own part, the Bearcats managed to head into the locker room tied after Deonta Vaughn's last-second three point shot hit the front of the rim and dropped in.

In the second half, the Wildcats began to pull away, taking advantage of numerous Bearcat turnovers by turning them into easy buckets on the end.  With the Wildcats up double digits, and under eight minutes to play, it appeared the game was out of reach.

But the resilient Bearcat-squad kept battling for its seniors, climbing all the way back within three with just a few minutes to go -- it wouldn't be enough.

Despite a run at the end that saw the Bearcats pull within 2 with 3 seconds to go, the Wildcats overcame the furious second half run, and held of the Bearcats in front of fired up Shoemaker Center Crowd.

The Bearcats must now travel to Georgetown this Saturday to take on the Hoyas in the final Big East regular season game of the season.