By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Leonard Stokes, who had 25 points, drives past Saint Louis' Kenny Brown. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - A five-game winning streak seems rather modest when judged by the standards of last season's University of Cincinnati basketball team, which won 20 games in a row on the way to a 31-4 season.

And that's exactly how the current Bearcats are viewing it - as a modest achievement on the way to the larger goal of a conference championship.

UC's fifth consecutive victory was a 66-56 decision over Saint Louis on Wednesday night at the Savvis Center.

It featured a season-high 25 points from senior forward Leonard Stokes, a 46.9 percent team shooting performance and the first career start for senior forward Eugene Land.

But as the Bearcats (10-3, 3-0 Conference USA) hustled to the team bus and then to their charter flight back to Cincinnati to beat an impending snowstorm, they took the win over the Billikens (6-8, 0-3) in stride.

Coach Bob Huggins wasn't happy with freshman Chadd Moore. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

"We're just playing as hard as we can and doing all we can to win," Stokes said. "We've just got to keep going and building on this."

Saint Louis played without head coach Brad Soderberg, who was sidelined with a stomach virus. Assistant coach Anthony Beane ran the Billikens in his place.

UC fell behind 7-0 and missed five of its first six shots before Land converted two baskets to get his team on the board.

The Bearcats came back to pull even for the first time at 18-18 with 11:13 left in the first half on a Stokes follow shot.

UC, which made eight of 15 3-pointers, led by three at the half and by as many as 16 in the second half before its offense stalled.

The Bearcats did not convert a field goal in the final 7:46.

Eric Hicks, getting blocked by Saint Louis' Chris Braun, didn't score in 25 minutes. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Guard Field Williams, who scored 15 points Wednesday night, continued his hot shooting. Senior point guard Taron Barker played one of his best games of the season with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes.

He played so well that freshman Chadd Moore, who has pushed Barker to the background against TCU on Saturday, logged only six minutes.

"Barker deserved 34 minutes and Chadd didn't," said UC coach Bob Huggins. "You can print that. Chadd didn't guard. Chadd's probably got a cold now, they ran by him so fast."

For Huggins, this UC team is still a day-to-day proposition. With the exception of Stokes, who has scored in double figures in every game this season, one game's hero is the next game's bench warmer.

"We know some guys play pretty good against some styles and against others they don't," Huggins said. "We're trying to mix and match, trying to get the most out of what we've got."

Chadd Moore beats Saint Louis' Anthony Drejaj to a loose ball. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Which is how Land ended up starting against the Billikens in place of Derek Hollman. Limited to an average of 6.1 minutes per game by his surgically repaired knee and still trying to recover from a two-year layoff, Land suddenly was thrust into the forefront.

Playing without the brace he usually wears on his knee, Land responded with four points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots in a 24-minute stint, the longest of his career.

"I'm dealing with the pain a little better," Land said. "I wasn't doing nothing with the situation before, so I guess I had to step it up a little bit."

Land didn't find out he was starting until Tuesday night.

"He had two great days of practice," Huggins said. "(Tuesday) he was so good in practice he was a man among the rest of them."

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

Billikens don't have answer for Stokes

Cincinnati	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Land	24	2	3	0	0	8	0	1	0	4
Maxiell	29	2	10	3	4	4	0	3	1	7
Williams	35	5	10	1	1	0	5	2	0	15
Stokes	40	10	19	4	5	7	5	3	3	25
Barker	34	3	4	4	5	5	5	3	1	12
Moore	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hollman	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lucas	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hicks	25	0	1	0	0	4	0	1	0	0
Bobbitt	5	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	3
Totals	200	23	49	12	15	32	15	14	6	66

Team rebounds - 4.

St. Louis	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Ohanon	18	0	3	1	2	5	1	0	0	1
Sloan	14	0	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Brown	31	2	4	2	4	9	0	2	4	6
Fisher	35	7	13	0	0	3	2	1	2	18
Perry	37	9	16	1	2	5	4	0	0	20
Drejaj	19	2	6	0	0	2	2	3	1	6
Diener	16	1	4	0	0	1	1	3	0	3
Varner	5	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Braun	25	1	6	0	0	4	0	3	1	2
Totals	200	22	57	4	8	33	10	13	9	56

Team rebounds - 3.

Cincinnati	33	33	-66
St. Louis	30	26	-56

3-pointers - UC 8-15 (Williams 4-8, Stokes 1-2, Barker 2-3, Bobbitt 1-2), SL 8-22 (Fisher 4-7, Perry 1-2, Drejaj 2-4, Diener 1-4, Varner 0-2, Braun 0-3). Technicals - None. Officials - Hillary, Shaw, Sitton. Att. - 10,403.