Steve Logan had 27 points and eight assists. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        PITTSBURGH — The top-seeded University of Cincinnati certainly took No.16 seed Boston University seriously, because this is how well-prepared the Bearcats were Friday night:

        When the BU point guard twirled his finger in the air to signal an offensive set, the UC players twirled their fingers in the air so they all knew what was coming.

        If a BU player tugged at his shorts, the Bearcats tugged at their shorts and got ready to defend a specific set.

        “We knew every play that they were calling,” junior Leonard Stokes said after UC's 90-52 rout of the Terriers. “We just watched film and studied it. We were able take them out of stuff defensively. One guy on the team asked me, "How y'all know every play we're running?' I just told him it was a secret, and we started laughing.”

Coach Bob Huggins yells at Donald Little for getting a foul in the first half. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        Cincinnati came out with a stifling defense that held the Terriers without a field goal for the first 8 1/2 minutes, then coasted in its first-round NCAA Tournament game. The 17,015 fans at Mellon Arena never even got a chance to think they might see the first 16th seed to ever win.

        “We tried to set the tone from the start,” UC senior Steve Logan said. “I told these guys, the first game is the biggest game. We've got to go out there and get all the atmosphere out of the way and just play our game.”

        It was the 500th career coaching victory for Cincinnati's Bob Huggins.

        He is the 58th Division I coach — the third-youngest and the 23rd active — to reach the milestone. In the final seconds, several Bearcat fans — including June Huggins, Bob's wife — held up letters that read: “Congratulations Coach Win #500.”

Boston's Chaz Carr tries to get to the basket past Cincinnati's Donald Little and Immanuel McElroy. | ZOOM |

        “This time of the year, it's one-and-out and you're just trying to concentrate on the next game,” said Huggins, who has coached at UC, Akron and Walsh College. “Honestly, I didn't know if I'd ever last that long.”

        Cincinnati, a 24-point favorite Friday night, improved to 31-3. It will face eighth-seeded UCLA (20-11) in a West Regional second-round game at 12:10p.m. Sunday. The Bruins defeated Mississippi 80-58 in Friday night's late game.

        “We know they're a tough bunch of guys, but we feel we're a tough bunch of guys as well,” UCLA senior Rico Hines said. “It's going to be an emotional game and a physical game.”

        Said UCLA coach Steve Lavin, “They're very athletic, quick, aggressive, confident basketball team that is playing with that kind of hard edge that every coach wants his team to play with.”

        The BU game was never in doubt. The Bearcats went ahead 14-2. It was 31-11 after a Logan 3-pointer, then 43-16 at halftime after a Logan bomb from about 28 feet with 23.8 seconds left in the half that had the players on the UC bench laughing.

        At intermission, it was Logan 23, Boston U 16.

        “I'm the point guard of this team,” Logan said. “I think pass first and shoot later. If I've got an open look, I'm going to shoot it in. If I don't, I'm not going to force it. I have to get my teammates involved as much as possible.”

        UC's road will not be easy from now on.

        Logan scored 23 of his game-high 27 points in the first half. The Terriers were in a zone defense and never extended enough to challenge Logan's shots.

        In the final 6:23 of the half, he scored 18 points and assisted on the only other basket — an alley-oop pass to Immanuel McElroy.

        “I was looking like, whoever's guarding him, at least put a hand up,” Stokes said. “They were just sitting there. The guy just made three shots, you ought to try to do something.”

        The Terriers missed their first 13 field goal attempts. They shot just 27 percent for the game and 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from 3-point range.

        Logan finished 10-of-15 from the field and 4-of-9 from 3-point range, and he added eight assists before going to the bench for good with 7:27 left. When he returned to the floor with 9:11 to play, he was booed for re-entering, and he was booed again after hitting a jumper with 8:41 remaining.

        McElroy had 14 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and six assists for the Bearcats; he went to the bench for good with 6:40 left. Reserve guard Field Williams added 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Stokes added 11.

        “I thought the three practices we had preceding the game we were really good,” Huggins said. “We had a lot of energy. We made shots. I thought we played really well today with the exception of not rebounding the ball.”

        Boston University, the America East Conference tournament champion, saw a nine-game winning streak come end.

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BOSTON U (52)
                           fg    ft    rb             
                   min   m-a   m-a   o-t   a  pf   tp
R Bell              30  4-13   8-8   3-8   0   3   16
B Collins           30  5-14   1-2  4-10   3   2   13
R Butt              18   0-7   0-0   1-1   1   1    0
K Fitzgerald        27   1-1   0-0   1-2   2   2    2
C Carr              28   1-8   0-0   0-3   1   2    2
P Seymour           23   3-9   0-0   0-1   0   0    8
M Michalek           4   0-0   0-0   0-0   1   0    0
J Kudlacz            3   0-0   1-2   0-2   0   0    1
J Grochowalski      16   2-9   1-1   3-3   0   2    6
S Dhondt             4   0-0   0-0   0-0   1   1    0
I Rodriguez         14   0-1   0-0   0-2   1   4    0
D Daccarett          3   1-1   2-2   0-0   0   1    4


_____________________________________________________
TOTALS             200 17-63 13-15 12-32  10  18   52
_____________________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.270, FT-.867. 3-Point Goals:
5-24, .208 (R Bell 0-2, B Collins 2-4, R Butt
0-2, C Carr 0-5, P Seymour 2-6, J 
Grochowalski 1-5). Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked 
Shots: 2 (J Kudlacz, D Daccarett). Turnovers:
10 (C Carr 4, R Butt 2, K Fitzgerald, R Bell,
I Rodriguez, P Seymour). Steals: 1 (M 
Michalek).


CINCINNATI (90)


                          fg    ft    rb             
                   min   m-a   m-a   o-t   a  pf   tp
J Davis             24   3-4   1-2   2-5   2   0    8
I Mcelroy           31  7-11   0-0  2-11   6   0   14
D Little            20   2-4   1-3   1-3   0   3    5
L Stokes            21   3-7   5-5   1-3   2   0   11
S Logan             28 10-15   3-3   0-2   8   1   27
F Williams          19   5-7   2-2   1-5   1   3   16
J Meeker             2   0-1   0-0   2-2   0   0    0
J Lucas              3   0-1   0-0   1-1   0   0    0
T Barker            10   0-1   0-0   0-1   0   0    0
R Flowers           10   1-2   0-2   1-1   0   2    2
R Crawford          10   0-0   0-0   0-0   1   2    0
B Grove              7   2-6   0-0   0-1   0   2    4
J Maxiell           15   1-5   1-2   1-4   0   1    3


_____________________________________________________
TOTALS             200 34-64 13-19 12-39  20  14   90
_____________________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.531, FT-.684. 3-Point Goals:
9-18, .500 (J Davis 1-2, I Mcelroy 0-1, S 
Logan 4-9, F Williams 4-5, T Barker 0-1). 
Team Rebounds: 4. Blocked Shots: 5 (D Little 
2, I Mcelroy 2, R Crawford). Turnovers: 3 (D 
Little, S Logan, J Meeker). Steals: 4 (S 
Logan 2, L Stokes, J Maxiell).


-----------------------------------
BOSTON U             16  36   -  52
CINCINNATI           43  47   -  90
----------------------------------- 


Technical fouls: None. A: 17,015. Officials: David
Libbey, Frank Bosone, Jamie Jones

---

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