Steve Logan draws a foul from Mississippi Statešs Guy Gardner. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        LAS VEGAS — During pregame warmups, Mississippi State guard Derrick Zimmerman was talking a little trash to University of Cincinnati guard Steve Logan.

        I'm gonna lock you up. You're too short. You're not that good.

        A couple hours later, Zimmerman had nothing to say, refusing an interview request.

        That was after Logan went out and scored a career-high 40 points in the Bearcats' 90-56 rout of the previously unbeaten Bulldogs in what was supposed to be the best game of the Las Vegas Classic, the “real” championship matchup.

        “I wanted to come out and attack,” Logan said. “We needed this win. I just wanted to show him it wasn't as easy to stop me the whole game.”

        UC was stronger inside, deadly from the outside and dominating most of the game. The Bulldogs (11-1) came in averaging 89 points.

MSU's Derrick Zimmerman and UC's Immanuel McElroy chase a loose ball. | ZOOM |

        No.25 Cincinnati (10-1) will play Purdue tonight (10:30p.m., Fox Sports Net) in the championship game of the Las Vegas Classic at Valley High School.

        The Bearcats will be going for their fourth consecutive inseason tournament title. They have not lost since their season-opening defeat at Oklahoma State and have beaten everyone by double digits.

        “We've played two top-10 teams this year (Arizona and Stanford), and they're every bit as good as them,” Purdue assistant coach Jay Price said of UC. “I would like to see the 24 teams better than them.”

      Logan scored 16 unanswered during one stretch of the second half.

        That's when UC ended any suspense. Mississippi State was within 43-31, then went 6:29 without scoring. The Bearcats went on a 19-0 run, started by a Field Williams' 3-pointer. Logan would score UC's next 18 points.

Donald Little scores over Mario Austin. | ZOOM |

          “Lo just kind of took the wind out of their sails,” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “He does it every single day in practice.”

        “That surprised no one on the team,” senior Jamaal Davis said.

        Logan finished 9-of-15 from the field, 5-of-9 from 3-point range and 17-of-18 from the foul line. With 9:52 left, he had more points (36) than the Bulldogs (33).

        His total was the most scored by a UC player since Melvin Levett had 42 against Eastern Kentucky on Dec.20, 1997. Logan's 17 free throws tied for fifth-best in school history.

        “It was one of the best games played against us,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. “We had no answers. We had our best defender on him, and he was able to break him down.”

Taron Barker drives past Derrick Zimmerman. | ZOOM |

        In three Las Vegas games, Logan is averaging 29.3 points and shooting 61 percent from the field, 56 percent from 3-point range and 92.3 percent from the foul line.

        Immanuel McElroy added 12 points for UC, which never trailed. McElroy, who was 0-of-8 from 3-point range through the first nine games, has hit four of five over the past two games. Davis had his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

        The Bearcats were in a similar situation to last year's Puerto Rico Holiday Classic final when they faced an unbeaten Alabama team that had been criticized for a weak schedule.

        The Crimson Tide was ranked No.17 but was 124th in the Ratings Percentage Index. Mississippi State had tied a school record with its 11-0 start, but its RPI was No. 44 Friday and its strength of schedule No. 211.

UC notebook: Purdue fights inconsistency

CINCINNATI (90)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Davis           31  5-10   0-0  8-11  2  3   10
Stokes          22   3-9   0-0   1-4  5  4    6
Little          23   2-7   0-0   1-7  0  3    4
Logan           31  9-15 17-18   0-3  1  1   40
Mcelroy         27   4-6   1-2   1-4  2  3   12
Williams        16   2-4   0-0   1-1  0  1    5
Meeker           2   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  0    3
Lucas            2   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Barker          16   0-2   0-0   0-1  5  3    0
Crawford        10   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  1    0
Hubbard          2   0-0   2-2   1-1  0  0    2
Grove            3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Maxiell         15   4-6   0-1   1-3  0  2    8
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 30-61 20-23 14-37 15 22   90
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.492, FT-.870. 3-Point Goals:
10-21, .476 (Stokes 0-4, Logan 5-9, Mcelroy 3-3,
Williams 1-3, Meeker 1-1, Barker 0-1). Team
rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 3 (Little, Stokes,
Maxiell). Turnovers: 17 (Mcelroy 4, Davis 3,
Logan 3, Little 2, Crawford, Lucas, Maxiell,
Stokes, Williams). Steals: 4 (Logan 2, Davis,
Mcelroy).


MISSISSIPPI ST (56)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Gholar          24   2-5   2-2   1-3  1  1    8
Bowers          27   3-6   0-0   0-1  0  2    7
Austin          25  4-11   5-5   4-9  1  1   13
Zimmerman       30   1-5   2-3   0-2  3  3    4
Patterson       29   3-8   2-2   1-5  0  3    9
Goffer          10   1-3   0-0   1-1  0  4    3
Campbell        10   2-4   2-2   1-2  0  1    6
Gardner          7   1-3   0-0   0-0  1  2    3
Frazier          6   0-1   0-1   0-0  0  1    0
Harper          10   0-2   0-0   1-1  0  1    0
L Smith         11   0-1   0-0   0-0  0  2    0
Ignerski        11   1-6   1-2   1-2  0  1    3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 18-55 14-17 10-26  6 22   56
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.327, FT-.824. 3-Point Goals:
6-18, .333 (Gholar 2-4, Bowers 1-4, Zimmerman
0-2, Patterson 1-2, Goffer 1-2, Gardner 1-2,
Frazier 0-1, Ignerski 0-1). Team rebounds: 6.
Blocked shots: 5 (Zimmerman 5). Turnovers: 19
(Austin 5, Patterson 5, Bowers 3, Goffer 2,
Ignerski 2, Frazier, Gholar). Steals: 8
(Zimmerman 3, Patterson 2, Austin, Gardner,
Goffer).
__________________________________
Cincinnati         39   51  -   90
Mississippi St     27   29  -   56
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. Officials: Sam Lickliter,
Terry Davis, Jerry Sauder.

---

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