BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Kenyon Martin saves a ball from going out of bounds in front of Bob Huggins and the UC bench. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Michael Horton's night began with a benching, continued through some vicious heckling and reached a crisis when the booing began. It ended with Horton standing on the court, enjoying his success and a Cincinnati Bearcats victory.

Horton responded to the lot of that adversity the way coach Bob Huggins had hoped. He played the entire second half without a turnover, passed for nine assists and scored eight points in UC's 90-76 victory Wednesday night over Alcorn State (2-2).

''It's real simple,'' Huggins said. ''You don't practice, somebody's going to take your spot. I don't really care how he took it. He's heard from me enough, and he's heard from the guys who've been here that we show up and play every day.''

Horton missed Monday's practice with an ankle injury, although he returned to work the next day. He said that being pulled from the lineup left him down on himself, but encouragement from teammates helped him to refocus on running the UC offense.

''I think he's getting better,'' Huggins said. ''I don't think Mike has a grasp of what it takes to be really good at this level, and I think that's natural and that's normal. Guys come in and they're used to doing their thing and being OK, but at this level they jump up and bite you when you do that.''

Michael Horton, right, looks behind him to try to block Orko Guyton's pass. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

Horton committed his first turnover after only 85 seconds and missed his first three shots from the field. His disastrous first 10 minutes had one fan among the 7,383 at Shoemaker Center mercilessly hounding the junior point guard for his ragged play and also Huggins for recruiting him in the first place.

Much of the crowd joined in after Horton missed four free throws and committed a second turnover.

With UC ahead 35-25, Horton started the second half, and the Bearcats' dramatically improved execution produced scores on 13 consecutive possessions and a 62-39 lead. UC (3-1) missed only three shots in that sequence.

Horton's backcourt partner, D'Juan Baker, finished with his second consecutive 30-point game. He needed only three three-pointers to rack up 34 points.

''After halftime, Bake told me to just get my head together, keep playing,'' Horton said.

Bobby Brannen is tripped up while going for a loose ball. (Saed Hindash photo) | ZOOM |

Baker also provided the stage for the most electric moment of the night. It was his missed three-pointer inside the final seven minutes that forward Melvin Levett noticed was about to hit the rim, so Levett swept down the lane, leaped into the air and threw it into the goal.

''It was something that needed to happen, and it happened for me,'' Levett said. ''I think I'll start attacking the glass more, trying to make things happen.

''That's got to be the best one I ever . . . I was ready to cry, man. You saw how high I was.''

That show-stopping dunk put UC ahead 74-55 and was rewarded with a standing ovation. But the cheering settled when Alcorn hit three consecutive three-pointers and cut that to an 11-point margin.

UC's already shortened bench was missing forward Brian Bland due to a death in the family and perhaps got its last contribution for a while from football players Brent Petrus and Brad Jackson, who are expected to rejoin the team for the Humanitarian Bowl. The Bearcats don't get back suspended forward Ruben Patterson until January.

''We'll kind of play like in high school, not having enough guys on the team,'' Levett said. ''We've got to band together.

''I think he's tired of preaching to us,'' Levett said of Huggins. ''I think he'd like us to start doing it.''

NCAA MOST TROUBLED BY CARTER CONNECTION
Notebook: BOWL SAPS HUGGINS' DEPTH

   Alcorn St. M FG Att FT Att  R A F TO TP 
   Adams     29  3  8   3   4  8 3 3  4 10 
   Jones     31  3  8   7   8  2 4 4  3 13 
   Guyton    21  2  3   0   0  3 0 3  1  5 
   Stiff     39  9 14   1   2  4 3 3  3 21 
   Miller    29  1  4   0   0  1 0 0  2  2 
   Wheaton   20  6  9   1   1  3 0 4  1 13 
   Davis     19  2  6   0   0  3 0 2  3  4 
   Jackson    5  1  1   0   0  0 1 0  2  3 
   Pack       2  0  0   0   0  0 0 0  1  0 
   Johnson    8  1  3   2   3  1 0 2  0  5 
           - - - - - - - - - -
   Totals   200 28 56 14 18 26 11 21 20 76 
   Team Rebounds- 1. 
   
   Cincinnati M FG Att FT Att  R A F TO TP 
   Levett    27  5   8  2   4  4 7 4  2 12 
   Brannen   38  9  13  1   1  5 0 2  3 19 
   Martin    23  6   7  1   4  8 2 3  1 13 
   Baker     39 12  22  7   8  5 1 1  3 34 
   Carson    11  1   2  0   0  1 0 1  2  3 
   Petrus    17  0   1  1   2  2 1 2  0  1 
   Fletcher   7  0   2  0   2  1 0 2  0  0 
   Horton    28  3   6  2   7  3 9 0  2  8 
   Jackson   12  0   0  0   0  2 0 2  1  0 
             - - - - - - - - - -
   Totals   200 36 61 14 28 35 20 17 14 90 
   Team Rebounds- 4.
    Alcorn State   25  51 - 76
    Cincinnati     35  55 - 90
  

Attendance-7,383 . 3-point goals-Alcorn St. 6-13 (Adams 1-2, Jones 0-2, Guyton 1-2, Stiff 2-2, Wheaton 0-1, Jackson 1-1, Johnson 1-3); Cincinnati 4-10 (Baker 3-6, Carson 1-2, Levett 0-2). Technical fouls-None. Officials-Ed Hightower, Tom Harrington, Harrell Allen.

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