B.J. Grove has 12 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        When the game was over, it would have been easy to dwell on how the University of Cincinnati allowed a 23-point second-half lead to dwindle to five in the final minute Wednesday night.

        But what stood out more from the Bearcats' 90-83 victory over Alabama-Birmingham was a pair of unlikely standouts.

        First, we have B.J. Grove, a 6-foot-11 sophomore center making his fifth start. Grove, who has been working an hour extra a day on conditioning the past two weeks, treated the Shoemaker Center crowd of 12,265 to the finest performance of his career. He finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs.

        “Those extra hours I've been putting in have really helped me physically and mentally,” Grove said. “It feels good as an individual. But right now I'm with the team. Our team needs to improve.”

Immanuel McElroy had a career-high 14 points and eight rebounds, tying his high. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        Next, we bring you junior forward Antwan Jones, who left the Bearcats for six days and considered quitting the team before returning Monday. Coming off what coaches have called two of his best practices, Jones scored 15 points and hit a career-high three 3-pointers — all in the second half. He finished 5-of-10 from the field with a career-high six rebounds.

        “I told him to just go play like he played in practice,” coach Bob Huggins said.

        “It felt good,” Jones said. “It wasn't like I wanted to come out here and prove a point to anybody. I know I put my teammates down by leaving without telling them anything. ... I've just got to put that behind me and keep striving forward.”

        Grove and Jones had plenty of help.

        Immanuel McElroy, making his fifth start, had a career-high 14 points and added eight rebounds, tying his high. Kenny Satterfield had a season-high nine assists with no turnovers in 32 minutes to go with nine points. Steve Logan, coming off his 27-point outing at Louisville, tallied 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Steve Logan steals. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        The game was not close until the end when UAB pulled to within five points twice. UC was outscored 22-8 in the final 4:11.

        “It's just something that we cannot do,” Logan said of allowing the Blazers to get back in the game. “That's been happening all season. That can kill your team. You've got to understand why Coach is mad when that happens. It was just awful defense the last 15 minutes of the game.”

        Said Huggins: “We don't handle success very well.”

        The Bearcats (12-4, 3-1 C-USA) have won 34 consecutive league home games and six straight overall against UAB.

        The Blazers, 1-8 against the Bearcats in Cincinnati, fall to 8-8, 1-3 with their third straight loss.

        The tone may have been set early with one play that featured defense, speed, unselfishness — and, of course, excitement.

Kenny Satterfield. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        Logan stole the ball from Alabama-Birmingham and immediately sent it to Satterfield, who was racing upcourt. Rather than take the uncontested shot himself, Satterfield lobbed the ball in the air for an oncoming McElroy, who flew in for the dunk.

        That gave the Bearcats a 10-0 lead. It would get to 14-0 before UAB scored.

        In the opening minutes of the second half, Grove dominated, scoring four consecutive baskets to put the Bearcats ahead 52-33 with 16:37 remaining.

Huggins: 'We need to put teams away'

UAB (83)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Walker          24   0-2   0-0   0-1  0  2    0
Frericks        10   0-2   0-0   2-3  0  2    0
Campbell        24   5-7   0-2  2-10  0  4   10
Bass            34  5-14   3-4   0-0  8  3   14
Batchelor       30  7-18   1-1   2-5  1  4   20
Johnson         11   1-1   0-0   0-0  1  0    2
Arnold          35 11-17   0-1   1-5  1  4   26
Ball            20   2-4   5-5   2-3  1  3   11
Nikolic         12   0-1   0-0   0-2  0  4    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 31-66  9-13  9-29 12 26   83
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.470, FT-.692. 3-Point Goals:
12-26, .462 (Bass 1-3, Batchelor 5-13, Arnold
4-7, Ball 2-3). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots:
5 (Campbell 2, Walker, Nikolic, Batchelor).
Turnovers: 14 (Bass 7, Batchelor 3, Arnold 2,
Johnson, Walker). Steals: 3 (Arnold, Bass,
Batchelor).


CINCINNATI (90)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Davis           20   2-5   2-2   1-1  2  1    6
Mcelroy         32   5-7   4-6   2-8  4  2   14
Grove           25  5-10   2-4  7-10  1  2   12
Satterfield     32  4-10   1-5   0-0  9  3    9
Logan           31  5-12   6-6   0-6  4  1   19
Williams         6   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    3
Jones           18  5-10   2-4   3-6  0  1   15
Stokes          16   3-7   1-2   0-3  3  4    7
Flowers          5   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  1    0
Little          15   1-3   3-3   1-4  0  2    5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 31-65 21-32 15-39 23 18   90
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.477, FT-.656. 3-Point Goals:
7-15, .467 (Satterfield 0-4, Logan 3-6, Williams
1-1, Jones 3-3, Stokes 0-1). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 5 (Little 3, Jones, Satterfield).
Turnovers: 10 (Stokes 4, Davis 2, Jones, Little,
Logan, Mcelroy). Steals: 8 (Logan 2, Mcelroy 2,
Satterfield 2, Davis, Stokes).
__________________________________
Uab                31   52  -   83
Cincinnati         42   48  -   90
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 12,265. Officials: Tom
Rucker, Larry Ware, Hal Lusk.

---

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