By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bob Huggins yells at a referee. (Steven M. Herppich photos) | ZOOM |

Jason Maxiell slams the ball down. | ZOOM |

Rod Flowers comes down with a rebound. | ZOOM |

Jason Maxiell rebounds over Valpo Crusader Antti Nikkila. | ZOOM |

The University of Cincinnati Bearcats, looking up at the Top 25 for the first time since Dec. 10 of last year, played Monday night with the intensity befitting a team with something to prove.

Lacking aggressiveness in their first three games, UC (3-1) came out fired up against Valparaiso (2-2), took control early and cruised to a 76-50 victory before 10,338 fans at Shoemaker Center.

It was the smallest home crowd since 10,212 showed up for the Toledo game Dec. 10, 2001.

The Bearcats' fall from the Top 25 ended a string of 30 straight games they had played as a ranked team.

Sophomore forward Jason Maxiell played his best game of the season, scoring 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Junior guard Field Williams scored 17 points to lead UC. Forward Leonard Stokes scored 15.

The Bearcats shot 44.1 percent from the field and were outrebounded for the second straight game.

UC found its shooting touch early, blitzing the Valparaiso zone defense with three treys in the first five-and-a-half minutes to build a 27-13 lead with 7:09 to go in the first half

After leading, 35-21 at halftime, the Bearcats scored the first six points of the second half, with Maxiell's dunk giving UC a 42-21 advantage less than two minutes after intermission.

The Crusaders made a brief run, closing to 15 points on several occasions, but could get no closer.

With 3:01 left, fans began to leave the arena and the UC student section begin chanting for walk-on guard John Meeker, who entered the game at the 2:08 mark.

The Bearcats had trouble penetrating the Valparaiso zone early in the game, but soon found creases that point guard Taron Barker took advantage of, first with a pass to Stokes that he tipped in with one hand and then with a pass to Maxiell that he dunked to give UC a 19-7 lead.

UC coach Bob Huggins became enraged with just under four minutes to go over a goal-tending call against Maxiell, pointing to the replay board above the court as the play was shown to the crowd.

The Bearcats, who have had trouble getting to the free throw line so far this season, didn't shoot a free throw until the 2:09 mark of the first half when Eugene Land knocked in a pair of free throws.

They shot only three free throws the entire first half compared with 11 for Valparaiso. They did not shoot a free throw in the second half of their loss to Dayton on Saturday.

UC also continued to have problems with post defense. Crusaders' center Raitis Grafs scoring nine points in the first half, but overall their defensive intensity was improved. Grafs scored only two more points the rest of the night to finish with 11.

The Bearcats shot 48.3 percent in the first half and made 5-of-14 threes. They held Valparaiso to 31.6 percent shooting and forced 11 turnovers.

NOTES

There's no truth to reports that ESPN has changed the time for Saturday's Crosstown Shootout, which is scheduled for 4 p.m.

ESPN officials did call UC about a possible time change, then decided to leave it where it was, according to athletic director Bob Goin. "It's a better fit," Goin said...

Kareem Johnson received his first start at center for UC.

UC hasn't lost back-to-back games in a season since Jan. 20 and Jan. 24, 2001 when the Bearcats lost at Saint Louis and to Louisville at home.

Valparaiso	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Gomes	30	2	6	3	4	4	3	4	2	8
Grafs	29	4	8	3	5	7	1	5	4	11
Tonagel	30	1	1	0	0	2	1	2	3	2
Ortiz	26	1	9	0	0	8	1	0	1	2
Berdiel	27	1	6	1	2	2	0	2	3	3
Nieves	14	2	5	1	2	1	1	2	3	7
Colclasure	18	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	6
Oppland	12	1	3	2	3	4	1	2	1	4
Nikkila	13	3	3	1	4	2	0	1	1	7
Wille	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	200	17	45	11	20	34	8	18	20	50

Team rebounds: 4

Cincinnati	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Stokes	31	6	8	1	2	3	3	2	2	15
Maxiell	30	6	10	2	5	2	0	3	0	14
Johnson	24	2	3	0	1	6	0	4	0	4
Williams	28	5	12	2	2	1	0	1	1	17
Barker	29	3	6	0	0	2	11	2	2	8
Land	9	0	2	2	2	0	0	1	1	2
Moore	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Meeker	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hollman	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
Lucas	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Hicks	9	0	3	2	4	4	0	1	1	2
Bobbitt	18	3	9	0	0	4	0	2	0	8
Flowers	4	0	2	3	4	2	0	0	0	3
Kirkland	4	1	3	0	0	4	0	0	1	3
Totals	200	26	59	12	20	31	15	18	8	76

Team rebounds: 3.

Valparaiso	21	29	-50
Cincinnati	35	41	-76

Attendance-10,338. 3-point goals-Valparaiso 5-13 (Gomes 1-2, Grafs 0-1, Ortiz 0-1, Berdiel 0-1, Nieves 2-3, Colclasure 2-4, Oppland 0-1); Cincinnati 12-27 (Stokes 2-3, Williams 5-12, Barker 2-4, Bobbitt 2-7, Kirkland 1-1). Technical fouls-None. Officials-Lickliter, Spencer, Fogarty.