Steve Logan tied his career high. (Jeff Swinger photos) | ZOOM |

        LOUISVILLE — Steve Logan got his groove back. Overnight.

        The University of Cincinnati junior guard tied his career-high with 32 points in an inspired 89-79 victory over Memphis on Friday night in the semifinals of the Ohio Casualty Group Conference USA tournament.

        The Bearcats (23-8) have won six straight and nine of 10. They have defeated Memphis (17-14) five consecutive times.

        No.1 seed UC plays third-seeded Charlotte at noon today (Channels 12, 7) for the championship at Freedom Hall. The 49ers bounced No.2 seed Southern Mississippi 75-63 Friday.

        Logan, the league's Player of the Year, was 4-of-15 shooting with 12 points in Thursday night's victory over UAB — his worst outing in two months.

        He had 17 points by halftime Friday night.

Logan throws the ball while being fouled by Shannon Forman. | ZOOM |

        “He puts a lot of pressure on himself when he plays bad,” teammate Kenny Satterfield said. “So I knew he was going to have a great game.”

        Logan finished 4-of-7 from 3-point range and 12-of-13 from the foul line. He also had four assists, three steals and no turnovers. It was his third 30-point game.

        “I calmed down,” he said. “I think I was too ready to go (Thursday). I was forcing things and taking bad shots. Coach told me to relax and let the game come to me, and that's what I did.”

        In the postgame news conference, UC coach Bob Huggins made it clear that he took offense to a statement by Marquette coach Tom Crean after his team lost to Memphis on Thursday night. Crean said “it's an absolute joke that Brian

        Wardle is not the player of the year in this conference.”

        Logan, of course, won the award.

        “To make a statement like that is ridiculous,” Huggins said. “I don't know what else anybody would want him to do.”

Jamaal Davis | ZOOM |

        UC also redeemed itself from the foul line, going 30-of-37 (.811). Against UAB, the Bearcats were just 17-of-30 (.567).

        The Bearcats, who jumped out to a 9-0 lead, led most of the game Friday night, but not by much.

        Memphis took its first lead with 7:24 left. It was ahead for the last time at 71-70 with 4:16 remaining. The Tigers made just three field goals the rest of the way while being outscored 19-8.

        “We've had these kind of games all year, so when the games are close like that, we've got experience on how to understand what we've got to do to win,” Satterfield said.

        Here's how UC took the lead for good: Memphis missed a shot and there was a scramble for the rebound. UC's Donald Little picked it up, fired an outlet pass and the Bearcats were off in tran sition. They scored when Immanuel McElroy dunked an alley-oop pass from Satterfield. That put Cincinnati back in front, 72-71.

        Said Logan: “This team is loaded with confidence right now.”

Rodney Crawford and Memphis's Kelly Wise go for the loose ball. | ZOOM |

        Freshman guard Scooter McFadgon then missed a 3 for Memphis. Logan rebounded, was fouled and made both free throws.

        McFadgon missed again with a wild runner in the paint. Satterfield nailed a 3-pointer and it was 77-71 Bearcats with 1:44 to go.

        The Tigers never threatened after that.

        “They were running two people at (Logan) toward the end,” Satterfield said. “They were leaving me one-on-one with the guards. I felt I had a mismatch, so I tried to make something happen.”

        Satterfield scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half. It was his highest point total since the Dec. 14 loss to Xavier. He also had five assists, five rebounds and two turnovers. The Bearcats turned over the ball just twice in the second half.

        McElroy added 13 points, and B.J. Grove had six points and a team-high eight rebounds.

        Junior Kelly Wise, a first-team all-conference player, finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis, but also had seven turnovers.

UC bom-boarded by Charlotte
UC-Charlotte rivalry rolls on
SULLIVAN: Logan or Satterfield or bust
Charlotte 75, Southern Miss. 63
Conference USA pairings

MEMPHIS (79)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Forman          34   2-9   0-0   5-5  2  4    4
Wise            39  7-12   6-8  2-10  2  3   20
E Barron        15   1-1   1-2   0-1  1  4    3
Chatman         32   5-9   0-0   1-3  3  4   12
Moody           25   3-9   0-1   0-1  1  1    7
Jones           24   4-5   7-8   3-6  2  4   15
Trask            9   0-2   1-2   0-1  1  0    1
Mcfadgon        20   5-7   4-6   0-2  1  3   17
London           2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-54 19-27 11-29 13 24   79
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.704. 3-Point Goals:
6-16, .375 (Chatman 2-4, Moody 1-6, Trask 0-2,
Mcfadgon 3-4). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 6
(Jones 3, Wise 2, E Barron). Turnovers: 14 (Wise
7, E Barron 2, Chatman, Jones, London, Moody,
Trask). Steals: 3 (Forman, Moody, Trask).


CINCINNATI (89)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Davis           22   3-6   2-2   1-2  0  4    8
Grove           35   2-5   2-4   4-8  0  2    6
Satterfield     28  7-11   9-9   3-5  5  3   24
Logan           35  8-15 12-13   0-3  4  2   32
Mcelroy         33   4-7   5-8   1-4  1  0   13
Stokes          22   1-4   0-0   0-2  1  0    2
Little          11   0-1   0-0   0-3  0  5    0
Williams         2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Crawford         7   0-0   0-1   0-0  1  3    0
Flowers          1   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
Jones            4   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-51 30-37  9-27 12 21   89
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.529, FT-.811. 3-Point Goals:
5-11, .455 (Satterfield 1-2, Logan 4-7, Stokes
0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 3 (Davis,
Logan, Little). Turnovers: 9 (Stokes 3, Mcelroy
2, Satterfield 2, Flowers, Williams). Steals: 6
(Logan 3, Davis, Mcelroy, Satterfield).
__________________________________
Memphis            35   44  -   79
Cincinnati         38   51  -   89
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Cincinnati 1 (Bench).  A: 9,486.
Officials: Tom Harrington, Mike Thibodeaux, David
Bair.

---

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