Bob Huggins slumps onto the scorer's table while protesting a ref's call. (Jeff Swinger photos) | ZOOM |

        The question all season has been this: What happens when the University of Cincinnati guards struggle? Power forward Jamaal Davis and center Donald Little answered that Thursday night.

        No.19 UC rallied after a lackluster first half, then held off a pesky UNC Wil mington 65-55 before a packed Shoemaker Center for the Bearcats' fifth consecutive victory.

        Kenny Satterfield and Steve Logan, Cincinnati's starting backcourt, combined for just 16 points — their lowest output when both play — on 5-of-21 shooting, and they missed all five of their 3-point attempts. They were 1-of-13 combined in the first half.

        “Satt's got a cold, and Lo's got a sprained ankle,” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “They're not going to make shots every day. So other guys have to step up and do some things.”

        The Bearcats shot just 37.5 percent from the field, 27.6 percent in the first half. UC finished 1-of-10 from 3-point range; its lone trey came from Leonard Stokes with 3:17 remaining.

Jamaal Davis scores two of his team-high 16 points. | ZOOM |

        Cincinnati (9-2) didn't pull away until the final nine minutes.

        “I apologize to the people for playing so bad, playing so uninspired,” Huggins said. “I was surprised, because we had a pretty good practice Christmas night and two pretty good practices (Tuesday and Wednesday). I was surprised that we were as flat as what we were. It was a total team effort: Nobody was ready.”

        Davis tied his career high with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. Little had his most active game since the first week of the season, finishing with nine points and a career-high 16 rebounds — he had seven boards in the game's first 6¹/₂ minutes.

        “When he plays that good, it helps us a lot, because it frees things up in the middle,” said Stokes, who added 16 points. “He was all over tonight. Once he gets to the stage where he can do that all the time, we're going to be a tough team to beat.”

        Said Huggins: “He's capable of scoring a lot better than what he scored tonight, that's for sure. He missed a lot of easy baskets. But I thought he was active. He's got to rebound for us. He's got to go get the ball. You can't be a great rebounder and only rebound the ball in your area.”

Donald Little grabs one of his 16 rebounds. | ZOOM |

        Little shot just 3-of-9 from the field and 3-of-8 from the foul line. He also had two assists, two blocks and — this may be the key — only two personal fouls.

        “When we were in Puerto Rico, Coach pulled me to the side and told me I'm not an offensive player,” Little said. “I'm mostly defense and blocked shots. So now I'm trying to focus more on rebounding and playing good defense, and the offense will come.”

        UC tied a season low with six turnovers.

        Little scored with 14:56 left to give the Bearcats their first lead since the opening minute of the game and put them ahead for good.

        The Seahawks were within 44-42 with 9:07 left, then Cincinnati scored seven straight points during a decisive 11-2 run.

        “We couldn't lose two games in a row at home,” Little said. “We couldn't do that.”

Immanuel McElroy. | ZOOM |

        UNC Wilmington wa
s ahead 28-24 at intermission and led for the final 16:58 of the first half.

        The Bearcats were out of sync. They looked awkward passing the ball. They missed from long range (0-of-6 on 3-point tries). They missed short putbacks. Be cause nobody could make an outside shot, the UNC Wilmington defense was able to smother Little.

        “I think we came out not ready to play,” Davis said. “It's really not supposed to happen.”

        The Seahawks (4-5) — who shot just 28.8 from the field against UC in the NCAA Tournament in March — shot 59.1 percent in the first half.

        Brett Blizzard led the Seahawks with 17 points, and Ed Williams added 15. UNC Wilmington shot 53.3 percent from the field and had only 11 turnovers.

Davis follows bad with good
UC women 72, Butler 44

NC WILMINGTON (55)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Williams        28  6-14   2-4   3-7  0  4   15
Callahan        10   1-3   0-0   0-2  1  5    2
Green           28   3-5   0-0   1-1  1  3    6
Thelmon         32   2-3   0-0   0-3  3  1    4
Blizzard        37  7-10   0-0   0-3  2  2   17
Jarmond          1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Scott           24   0-1   0-2   0-3  0  3    0
Burnette         2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Terrell         16   2-5   0-0   0-1  0  3    4
Hare            22   3-4   0-3   0-3  2  3    7
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-45   2-9  4-23  9 24   55
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.533, FT-.222. 3-Point Goals:
5-13, .385 (Williams 1-3, Callahan 0-1, Thelmon
0-1, Blizzard 3-5, Scott 0-1, Hare 1-2). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 1 (Hare). Turnovers:
9 (Williams 3, Blizzard, Callahan, Green, Hare,
Scott, Thelmon). Steals: 4 (Blizzard 2, Scott,
Thelmon).


CINCINNATI (65)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Davis           31   6-7   4-5   4-6  1  2   16
Stokes          28   3-8  9-11   2-4  0  3   16
Little          36   3-9   3-8  8-16  2  2    9
Satterfield     38  4-13   2-3   3-7  2  1   10
Logan           30   1-8   4-4   0-0  2  2    6
Williams         6   0-1   0-0   0-0  1  0    0
Jones           10   2-5   0-0   0-1  0  0    4
Mcelroy         18   2-5   0-0   3-3  1  0    4
Grove            3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 21-56 22-31 20-37  9 11   65
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.375, FT-.710. 3-Point Goals:
1-10, .100 (Stokes 1-4, Satterfield 0-3, Logan
0-2, Williams 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 2 (Little 2). Turnovers: 6 (Satterfield 4,
Little, Stokes). Steals: 4 (Jones, Logan,
Satterfield, Stokes).
__________________________________
Nc Wilmington      28   27  -   55
Cincinnati         24   41  -   65
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,176. Officials:
Gary Allen, Dan Fouser, Derrick Collins.

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