Immanuel McElroy had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        CLEVELAND — University of Cincinnati senior Steve Logan was the local hero. But it was freshman Jason Maxiell who became the Gund Arena crowd favorite Saturday night at the Rock-N-Roll Shootout.

        Maxiell totaled five dunks and a career-high 16 points in the 17th-ranked Bearcats' lethargic 73-57 victory over Akron.

        The 6-foot-7 forward finished 8-of-9 from the field and also had seven rebounds and two blocks in just 20 minutes.

        He threw down a one-handed rebound dunk in the first half and a two-handed rebound dunk in the second half. He blocked a shot from Akron's 7-1 center Matt Seibert. He grabbed an airball from a UC teammate and slammed it in. He hit a jumper from the foul line.

        “It was pretty fun,” said Maxiell, who was surprised when he was named the team's most valuable player for the game.

        “I see it all the time in practice,” Logan said. “I'm glad to see him get out there and express himself on the floor. He deserved everything he got tonight.”

Steve Logan | ZOOM |

        UC (12-1) has won 12 in a row, matching the third-longest winning streak in Conference USA history. It has the league's top four winning streaks (16, 15, 12, 12).

        It was the final “home” game for Logan, a Cleveland native who was Ohio's Division I Player of the Year at Lakewood St. Edward High School.

        Logan finished with 15 points and moved into 10th place on UC's all-time scoring list (1,507), passing Robert Miller.

        Immanuel McElroy added a season-high 15 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Bearcats. Donald Little had 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a career-high three steals.

        Despite the outcome, it was UC's worst overall effort since Dec.10 against Toledo.

        Logan wasn't in sync, hitting just 6 of 16 shots. Akron outrebounded the Bearcats 39-32. And UC didn't play the kind of defense it has been playing most of the past six weeks.

        “If they sleepwalk through practice like that, I run them to death,” coach Bob Huggins said. “We weren't very good.”

Donald Little | ZOOM |

        UC didn't need to be that good.

        Saturday night's game was pretty much decided in the first half. UC pulled away from a 19-12 lead with 11 unanswered points and allowed Akron only three baskets and seven points in the final 12 minutes of the half.

        The Bearcats led 37-19 at intermission and were ahead by as many as 23 with 3:01 remaining.

        Maxiell scored three straight UC baskets in the second half and totaled 12 over a 9:52 stretch.

        “He dunks good,” Huggins said. “Max is very capable of having games like that. We've got to get him a little better defensively.”

        Maxiell is averaging 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds off the bench, including 9.0 points in the past five games.

B.J. Grove | ZOOM |

        After the Bearcats won the Las Vegas Classic on Dec.22, Huggins approached Maxiell in the UC locker room and essentially told him to stop thinking so much. The coaching staff had thrown enough rotations and adjustments at Maxiell that he looked “like a deer in the headlights,” Huggins said.

        “I just calmed down,” Maxiell said. “I was ready to break loose. I just wanted to get the rebounds. I wanted the ball.”

        Rashon Brown led Akron with 12 points. Western Hills graduate Darryl Peterson had 11 points and seven rebounds and was named the Zips' MVP. Andy Hipsher added 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

        “It's pretty evident if you look at one stat: It comes down to points off turnovers,” Akron coach Dan Hipsher said. “We gave it away 25 times and they are pretty good at finishing one-on-nobodies and two-on-nobodies.”

        Akron (297 RPI), coached by Huggins from 1984-89, has lost six of seven and dropped to 3-8.

CINCINNATI (73)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Davis           19   1-4   0-1   0-1  1  3    2
Mcelroy         31  6-11   3-3   3-6  4  2   15
Little          24   4-7   5-7   1-5  3  2   13
Stokes          34   1-6   6-8   1-3  1  1    8
Logan           32  6-16   1-1   0-2  3  1   15
Barker          20   1-4   2-3   0-1  4  2    4
Flowers          3   0-0   0-0   1-2  0  0    0
Crawford         7   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  0    0
Hubbard          5   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Maxiell         20   8-9   0-1   4-7  0  3   16
Meeker           2   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Grove            3   0-2   0-0   1-1  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-61 17-24 12-30 16 15   73
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.443, FT-.708. 3-Point Goals:
2-12, .167 (Stokes 0-2, Logan 2-5, Barker 0-3,
Hubbard 0-1, Meeker 0-1). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 5 (Little 2, Maxiell 2, Davis).
Turnovers: 10 (Davis 2, Logan 2, Stokes 2,
Crawford, Flowers, Grove, Maxiell). Steals: 17
(Barker 4, Stokes 4, Little 3, Flowers 2, Logan
2, Crawford, Mcelroy).


AKRON (57)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Peterson        27  3-10   4-4   3-7  0  3   11
A Hipsher       28   3-8   3-4  2-12  3  1   10
Meyers          23   3-5   0-2   1-1  2  3    6
Brown           35   4-5   3-4   0-2  5  0   12
B Hipsher       24   2-4   0-0   0-0  2  5    5
Wood            13   0-0   0-0   1-3  4  1    0
Kowall           1   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
L Penn          11   0-1   0-0   1-2  0  1    0
Jones            1   0-0   0-0   0-2  1  0    0
Falknor         21   3-9   0-0   1-4  0  1    9
Seibert         16   2-6   0-0   1-3  0  2    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 20-49 10-14 10-36 17 17   57
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.408, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:
7-18, .389 (Peterson 1-2, A Hipsher 1-3, Brown
1-2, B Hipsher 1-2, Kowall 0-1, Falknor 3-8).
Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 3 (Seibert 3).
Turnovers: 25 (Brown 7, A Hipsher 4, Falknor 3,
Meyers 3, Peterson 3, Seibert 3, Wood). Steals: 5
(Brown 2, Meyers 2, Seibert).
__________________________________
Cincinnati         37   36  -   73
Akron              19   38  -   57
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. Officials: Jim Burr, Paul
Janssen, Dennis Arinello.

---

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