Steve Logan had 24 points but made only 5-0f-13 from the field. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        GREENVILLE, N.C. — The Minges Coliseum near-capacity crowd of 7,143 left pretty happy Saturday night. The home team — East Carolina — didn't win, but it sure put a scare into the University of Cincinnati.

        The 13th-ranked Bearcats, who trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half, escaped with a 72-62 victory that did not come easily.

        The Pirates, playing their first-ever Conference USA game, were poised, intense and determined to battle until the final buzzer. They provided UC with its closest call during its 13-game winning streak.

        “If they play as hard as they did today, they'll beat people in here,” UC coach Bob Huggins said.

        Saturday night's game was an event in Greenville. The headline at the top of the front page of The Daily Reflector, the local newspaper, proclaimed: “Big-time basketball arrives in Greenville.”

Immanuel McElroy drives around East Carolina's Jonathan Moore. | ZOOM |

        Athletic director Mike Hamrick declared it one of the top five events in the history of the school's athletics, and sophomore Erroyl Bing told the paper: “This is the biggest game of my life so far.”

        It was East Carolina's largest crowd in nearly three years.

        UC ended up winning because of its size advantage inside and perimeter defense.

        Cincinnati (13-1) outrebounded the Pirates 44-30. Center Donald Little, who came close to a double-double several times early in the season, finally got one with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

        “It came at the right time, when it really counts,” said Little, a 46.9-percent free throw shooter who went 9 of 11 at the line. “I know how important conference (play) is.”

        “D doesn't realize he can do that night in and night out,” UC senior Steve Logan said.

        Perhaps more important, the Pirates finished 3-of-22 from 3-point range (.136).

        ECU came in leading C-USA in 3-pointers made per game (8.92). Its first points came on a 3 by Travis Holcomb-Faye. The Pirates then missed their next 15 tries from behind the arc, hitting their next one (by Kenyatta Brown) with 8:01 to play.

        “I don't think we took a lot of bad 3s,” ECU coach Bill Herrion said. “We had some open looks in some scramble plays and we didn't knock them down.”

        UC's biggest lead was 12 points (47-35), but it could not shake East Carolina.

        The Pirates were within 66-60 with 1:26 remaining and had a chance to cut it to four after Logan was called for five seconds and turned the ball over. But Bing's forced shot down low didn't go.

        Logan was fouled in the backcourt with 55 seconds left and hit both free throws to make it 68-60. He scored 10 of UC's final 12 points.

        Twice in the final three minutes when Logan went to the foul line, fans started chanting “Over-rated.”

        “I don't really care what they think,” Logan said. “As long as we come in and get a win, it's fine with me.”

        The Bearcats were playing only their second game in 14 days since winning the Las Vegas Classic. And they have not looked too sharp in either (Akron and ECU).

        Logan said the defense has to “turn it up now because everybody in the conference wants the title.”

        Huggins said UC isn't going to win a lot of games when starters Leonard Stokes and Immanuel McElroy combine for just nine points on 4-of-12 shooting as they did Saturday night.

        “We didn't make any shots,” Huggins said. “When we don't make any shots, it's a struggle. When Leonard Stokes gets three points and Mac gets six , we're not very good. Let's face the facts. Those guys have got to make some shots.”

        The top scorers for each team — Logan (22.5) and Bing (16.3) — had to work for their points. Both started the game 2-of-8 from the field.

        Logan led UC with 24 points, 13 of which came at the foul line. Freshman Jason Maxiell added 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

        Bing led ECU with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Brown added 14 points for the Pirates (6-7), who were picked to finish seventh and last in the American Division in the preseason coaches poll.

        “They came out with a lot of intensity, a lot of trash talk, and they were backing it up,” Little said.

        “We're supposed to be the ones who are aggressive, and we weren't attacking,” Logan said.

CINCINNATI (72)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Davis           19   3-6   1-1   2-4  1  5    7
Mcelroy         36   3-8   0-0   3-3  1  3    6
Little          36  4-10  9-11  4-15  1  2   17
Stokes          30   1-4   1-2   0-4  3  3    3
Logan           34  5-13 13-14   0-3  2  1   24
Williams        10   1-2   0-0   0-0  0  3    3
Barker          11   0-2   0-0   0-1  1  0    0
Crawford         3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Maxiell         21   5-5   2-2   2-9  0  3   12
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 22-50 26-30 11-39  9 20   72
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.440, FT-.867. 3-Point Goals:
2-10, .200 (Stokes 0-2, Logan 1-5, Williams 1-2,
Barker 0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 4
(Little 3, Stokes). Turnovers: 17 (Little 6,
Logan 4, Mcelroy 3, Stokes 2, Barker, Davis).
Steals: 2 (Logan 2).


EAST CAROLINA (62)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Brown           34  4-10   4-4   2-4  0  3   14
Bing            39  6-14  5-10   4-6  2  3   17
Badiane         33   2-6   3-5   1-3  0  4    7
Hawkins         27   0-6   0-0   0-1  2  4    0
Holcomb-faye    28   3-7   0-0   1-2  2  4    7
Duckett          7   1-1   0-2   1-4  0  4    2
Primus          16   4-9   0-1   1-2  1  1    8
Foxx             1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Moore           15   3-8   1-2   0-3  2  2    7
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-61 13-24 10-25  9 25   62
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.377, FT-.542. 3-Point Goals:
3-22, .136 (Brown 2-7, Bing 0-2, Hawkins 0-4,
Holcomb-faye 1-2, Primus 0-5, Moore 0-2). Team
rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 2 (Badiane 2).
Turnovers: 10 (Bing 3, Duckett 2, Hawkins 2,
Brown, Holcomb-faye, Moore). Steals: 7 (Brown 4,
Badiane, Hawkins, Moore).
__________________________________
Cincinnati         34   38  -   72
East Carolina      29   33  -   62
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 7,143. Officials:
Larry Ware, Steven Pyatt, Al Moore.

---

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