NEW YORK

But they didn’t make it easy on themselves.

The No. 10 Pirates blew a 29-point second-half lead and advanced to the second round of the Big East with a 109-106 victory over No. 15 Providence after Friars freshman Duke Mondy missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Read the full story here.

**Brendan Prunty has a good story about Seton Hall guard Keon Lawrence and how his off-the-court issues contributed to a disappointing season.

**Lance Stephenson hit the game-winning foul shot to lift Cincinnati to a 69-68 victory over Rutgers, which faces an uncertain future.

(Photo courtesy Getty Images)

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Lance Stephenson

“I think I’m going to stay and keep working,” Stephenson told the newspaper. “I don’t think I’ve had an NBA season this year so the best choice for me is to stay.”

“Lance really likes it at Cincy,” Lance Stephenson Sr. added in a text message. “My wife and I are happy how he’s maturing and enjoying the college life. We will support him with any decision he makes.”

The all-time leading scorer in New York state history, Stephenson was tabbed as the Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year, but there is no guarantee he’ll win the postseason award.

Rutgers rookie Dane Miller is averaging 12.5 points and 6.6 boards overall and 9.4 points and 6.1 rebounds in the conference. He has won the last three Rookie of the Week honors.

Stephenson is averaging 11.2 points and 4.8 rebounds overall and 10.7 and 4.6 in Big East games.

He is shooting just 20 percent (11 for 56) from beyond the arc and has committed a team-best 64 turnovers.

“[Stephenson] has had a heck of a freshman year,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin told the Enquirer. “But he’s had some rough spots, no doubt about it.”

NBA scouts have been underwhelmed by Stephenson’s freshman season and the Enquirer cited several scouts who said he would be no higher than a low second-round pick.

“He’s been good this year for Cincinnati but I don’t know if he would have projected as a high-lottery pick,” New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said. “I think down the road he certainly will be. I think he’s improved his game. He’s learned to play with other players more comfortably and another year at Cincinnati under Mick Cronin will only make him a better player.”

Cronin told the Enquirer that Stephenson will meet after the season with his parents to discuss his future but could understand why he might want to return.

“He definitely wants to play better,” Cronin said. “That’s just a reflection of him letting you know, ‘Hey, I know I need to play better.’

“Lance’s big thing is maturity and not trying to score on a guy just because he scored on him on the previous play, not breaking the offense and going one-on-five.”

(Photo courtesy Cincinnati Enquirer)

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The 6-foot-5 Stephenson, New York State’s all-time leading scorer, is averaging a team-best 12.2 points and 4.8 rebounds for the Bearcats (13-7, 4-4 Big East).

“He’s had a good year,” Cronin said. “I think for a freshman he’s had a great year. You can’t compare people to John Wall or Michael Beasley but Lance has had a very good year. I’d probably say if the voting were taken right now he’d probably be Freshman of the Year in the Big East. You can’t live up to ridiculous expectations that other people set forth for you.”

Stephenson may or may not head to the NBA after on season, perhaps depending on the feedback he gets from NBA scouts and GMs.

In the meantime, Cronin said he and his staff were still working with Stephenson to develop various aspects of his game.

“I think he struggled shooting the ball from the perimeter at times,” he said. “He seemed to correct that at Louisville [scoring 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting] and he’s working hard on it. Just learning how to play off the ball is something he’s worked hard on. As a coaching staff we’ve tried to get him to where he can get some easy baskets and moving without the basketball.”

Fellow freshman Sean Kilpatrick, a White Plains, N.Y. native, was one of the reasons Stephenson came to Cincinnati in the first place.

But Cronin opted to redshirt the 6-5 shooting guard because he wouldn’t have gotten much playing time behind senior Deonta Vaughn.

“I wish I was out there helping my team, but I feel it’ll help me in the long run,” Kilpatrick, who averaged 25.6 points as  a senior at White Plain High, told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Kilpatrick picked Cincinnati over Providence, the team the Bearcats face Saturday. Kilpatrick surely would’ve liked the chance to face the Friars, but he’ll have to wait until next year.

“With all these perimeter guys, I didn’t want him to waste a year,” Cronin told the Enquirer. “A guy told me a long time ago that if you can redshirt a good player, it’s really going to help you down the road.”

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NEW YORK

With Cincinnati and St. John’s tied at 50 with 7.6 seconds remaining, Stephenson tried an in-bounds pass to teammate Deonta Vaughn under the Cincinnati basket.

But Hardy alertly cut in front of Vaughn, stole the ball and was fouled by Dion Dixon.

Read the full story here.

**And here’s Aditi’s story on Syracuse’s win over Rutgers at the RAC.

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Lance Stephenson

Yet when he returns to the Garden Wednesday for the first time as a collegian to face St. John’s (10-5, 0-3 Big East), he doesn’t expect a friendly response.

“Yeah, of course. Everyone wanted me to go somewhere close to home so I think they’re gonna boo me much harder than Rutgers did,” Stephenson, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound freshman from Brooklyn who plays for Cincinnati (11-5, 2-2), said Monday on a conference call. “It makes me play harder.”

Read the full story here.

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Wesley Johnson of Syracuse, Da’Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks of West Virginia and Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson of UConn have all played — and beaten — the Pirates this season.

Now here comes Cincinnati and Lance Stephenson, the Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year who is averaging a team-best 12.5 points to go with 4.8 rebounds.

The Bearcats (11-4, 2-1 Big East) visit the Pirates (9-5, 0-3) at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Prudential Center.

“With a guy like Lance, he just doesn’t look like a freshman. He’s like a man out there. I think he’s just a difference-maker for them and he gives them another offensive weapon that they haven’t had to go with [Yancy] Gates and Deonta Vaughn,” said Pirates coach Bobby Gonzalez, whose team has dropped four straight and five of six.

“Man, I don’t think he’ll be in the league long. Let’s put it that way.”

Gonzalez believes both Syracuse’s Johnson and West Virginia’s Ebanks should be lottery picks in the 2010 NBA Draft.

“Those guys are ridiculous,” he said.

While St. John’s coach Norm Roberts was heavily involved in Stephenson’s recruitment, Seton Hall (9-5, 0-3 Big East) was never really a factor in Lance’s thinking.

Still, Gonzalez watched him play in high school and now figures that the 6-foot-5 Stephenson will also have a chance to jump to the NBA after this season.

“I think Lance, if he continues the pace that he’s at, where he’s basically going to be Rookie of the Year and the numbers he’s getting and the competition he’s doing it against, knowing the whole idea that if the 19 age rule [weren't in place] he maybe could’ve went out of high school, I gotta believe he’s one-and-done,” he said.

Lance Stephenson Sr. said his son wasn’t thinking ahead to leaving for the NBA after this season.

“We’re just taking it game-by-game,” he said. “So we’re not really thinking about nothing far in advance.”

Lance Sr. and his wife Bernadette, Stephenson’s little brother, Lantz, and his daughter, Liara, all came to the Rutgers game last week in which Stephenson scored 10 points in a 65-58 victory.

Since Cincinnati plays at Seton Hall Saturday and then against St. John’s Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, his family will get to see him up close twice in the coming days.

“Seton Hall, St. John’s, they’re going to be tough games,  just like this one was, so I’m just looking forward to seeing him,” Lance Sr. said after the Rutgers game.

Stephenson has had his ups and downs already this season.

He hit two foul shots with .7 seconds left to lift the Bearcats over UConn, but then played more of a secondary role in the win over Rutgers.

“At Lincoln I used to just go,” Stephenson said. “Now I got a coach [Mick Cronin] that puts me in the spot and I got to…know when to go to the hole and when to pass it.”

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PISCATAWAY, N.J. — After Cincinnati beat Rutgers 65-58 Saturday night, Lance Stephenson wore a Yankees cap and a smile as he walked diagonally across the Rutgers Athletic Center floor.

(Photo courtesy Neil Miller)

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Here’s a column from Rick Bozich on the relationship between the two coaches.

After his admissions of marital infidelity and a pending trial, Pitino is sure to get an earful from the UK faithful and it should be something to watch (3:30, CBS).

**I’ll be at Cincinnati-Rutgers tonight in what should be an entertaining affair. Rutgers, which won only two Big East games last season, needs to win this game to defend the RAC, while Rashad Bishop and the Bearcats are coming off a 71-69 victory over No. 10 UConn in which Lance Stephenson hit two key foul shots with .7 seconds left. The game will be shown live on SNY at 8 p.m. SNY also has the Pitt-Syracuse game at noon.

**In another key tilt, No. 1 Kansas visits Juan Fernandez and Temple. In one of three bylines he has in today’s New York Times (take a break, my man), Kevin Armstrong has this interesting feature on Fernandez’s journey from Argentina to Philly. Kevin also has a piece on Army coach Zach Spiker.

**In the high school ranks, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins and South Florida coach Stan Heath watched as Paterson Catholic improved to 5-0 with a 70-67 OT victory over Huntington (West Va.) Prep in Wheeling, West Va.. Junior guard Myles Mack was named MVP after putting up 21 points on 9 for 15 shooting to go with 6 rebounds and 3 steals and Seton Hall-bound forward Fuquan Edwin added 19 points. Junior forward Derrick Randall added 12 points and 11 boards. PC, ranked No. 8 in the PrepNation.com poll, was coming off winning the City of Palms tournament with a win over Austin Rivers and Winter Park (Fla.).

Cougars coach Damon Wright said Heath inquired about the 5-9 Mack, who has had a tremendous season thusfar.

Lance and the Bearcats play three of their next five games in the New York metropolitan area, beginning Saturday at Rutgers. Cincy visits Seton Hall Jan. 9 and St. John’s at MSG Jan. 13.

For more on Lance, read what Sebastian Telfair has to say.

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