Thursday, February 07, 2002
UC: No sweat in Charlotte
Stokes the star of 85-66 win over 49ers
By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During warmups before Wednesday night's game, a Charlotte student decided to pick on Leonard Stokes.
“You're mine, Stokes,” the fan shouted. “You're mine.”
It didn't work out that way.
The University of Cincinnati junior put an end to his problems on the road — at least for one night — and led the the sixth-ranked Bearcats past Charlotte 85-66 in a crucial Conference USA game.
He finished with 30 points — the second-highest total of his career and his best on the road — and was 11-of-15 from the field. He made 3-pointers, short bank shots and driving jumpers and also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Stokes, who came in averaging just 8.7 points in away games, scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half and helped the Bearcats to a 44-34 lead at intermission.
It was the second time in seven games Stokes has scored 30 or more points, but in between he averaged just 7.6.
“He shot the ball better in practice this week than he did in a while,” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “I thought he made tough shots. When he plays good, we're a pretty good basketball team.”
UC had quite a 1-2 punch: Steve Logan finished with 24 points and six assists. Logan's 3-pointer with 5:32 to play gave Cincinnati a 19-point lead, and the game basically was over.
Cincinnati (21-2, 9-1 C-USA) rebounded from a loss Saturday at Marquette. Charlotte (14-7, 8-2) saw a seven-game winning streak come to an end. UC and Marquette are tied for first place in the C-USA American Division.
On the way to the locker room after the Marquette loss, Logan told Stokes it was time for him to become more consistent.
“Lo told me, "You're a junior now, you've got to step up,'” Stokes said. “Now I've got to get to the point where they don't have to tell me.”
This was the most lopsided final score in the 15-game history of the UC-Charlotte series.
“I think we wanted to come out and make a statement with Charlotte,” Logan said. “It's tough to win in here.”
UC remains in North Carolina and heads today to Winston-Salem, where it will face 19th-ranked Wake Forest and its first-year coach, Skip Prosser, on Saturday.
The 49ers never led Wednesday. They made their biggest run at the beginning of the second half, scoring five straight points — all by Cam Stephens — and pulling to 44-39.
But the Bearcats scored the next seven points and never let Charlotte get closer than 55-48 the rest of the game.
UC was aggressive from the start, going ahead 10-2 early and leading by as many as 15 points twice in the first half.
It would have had a larger halftime lead, but UC was just 4-of-11 from the foul line in the half.
Cincinnati finished with a 43-31 rebounding advantage and overcame 12 Charlotte 3-pointers.
NOTEWORTHY: Starting forward Jamaal Davis suffered a mild sprained left ankle with 8:06 left. He said afterward that he was OK, and he's probable for Saturday's game.
• A memorial service for former Bearcats coach Ed Jucker will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the Presbyterian Church of Wyoming on the corner of Wyoming and Burns Avenues. The family asks donations be made to: Ed Jucker Baseball Fund, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0021.
CINCINNATI (85)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Davis 19 2-6 0-2 1-5 0 3 4
Little 17 0-4 0-0 2-7 0 3 0
Mcelroy 32 1-5 5-6 2-7 0 3 7
Stokes 36 11-15 6-9 2-8 0 2 30
Logan 36 10-17 0-0 0-3 6 1 24
Williams 10 1-1 2-2 0-2 1 2 5
Barker 5 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Flowers 7 2-2 0-0 1-1 1 1 4
Crawford 11 1-1 3-3 2-3 2 1 5
Hubbard 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Grove 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Maxiell 25 2-6 2-3 2-3 0 0 6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 30-59 18-25 12-39 10 16 85
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.508, FT-.720. 3-Point Goals:
7-14, .500 (Stokes 2-4, Logan 4-7, Williams 1-1,
Maxiell 0-2). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 1
(Maxiell). Turnovers: 17 (Logan 5, Davis 3,
Little 2, Mcelroy 2, Stokes 2, Williams 2,
Flowers). Steals: 4 (Stokes 2, Davis, Williams).
CHARLOTTE (66)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Nash 31 5-11 0-0 0-2 5 2 14
Stephens 21 2-8 5-8 0-5 2 5 9
Williams 26 1-4 3-4 3-5 3 2 5
Brown 30 3-8 0-0 1-3 1 2 8
Thomas 37 6-14 2-3 0-3 0 3 18
Johnson 23 4-8 0-1 2-5 1 2 10
Reed 7 0-0 1-2 1-2 2 0 1
Niparavicius 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Basden 17 0-2 1-2 1-2 1 1 1
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 21-56 12-20 8-27 15 17 66
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.375, FT-.600. 3-Point Goals:
12-27, .444 (Nash 4-8, Brown 2-6, Thomas 4-8,
Johnson 2-4, Niparavicius 0-1). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 1 (Stephens). Turnovers: 16
(Thomas 2, Basden, Brown, Johnson, Nash, Reed,
Stephens, Williams). Steals: 9 (Stephens 2,
Williams 2, Basden, Brown, Johnson, Reed, Thomas).
__________________________________
Cincinnati 44 41 - 85
Charlotte 34 32 - 66
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Cincinnati 1 (Bench). A: 9,105.
Officials: Tom Rucker, Tom Eades, Mike Thibodeaux.
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UC: No sweat in Charlotte
