By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Texas Christian's Jamal Brown (30) dunks against Cincinnati's Erick Hicks. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

FORT WORTH, Texas - The University of Cincinnati Bearcats' usually reliable defense was being shredded by TCU. It got so bad that UC coach Bob Huggins resorted to the dreaded zone defense for much of the second half because his players couldn't stay with the Horned Frogs man-to-man.

"We couldn't guard them," Huggins said. "We had to play zone. I'm just trying to win, man."

But on a Saturday afternoon when the Bearcats' defense - the fourth-stingiest in the country - was suspect, their offense sprung to life, enabling them to get past TCU 83-72 before 6,089 fans at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

UC's point total was its highest of the season, and its 51.7 percent shooting was also its best. The Bearcats (9-3, 2-0 Conference USA) had three players score 20 points or more, also a first this season.

In fact, there have been only three previous games this season in which any UC player scored 20 points.

Junior guard Field Williams, playing in his home state, scored a career-high 24 points, 16 in the first half. He connected on six of 13 3-pointers and is shooting 48.9 percent in his last four games, during which he has averaged 15 points a game.

He had gone 8-for-32 in his previous four games. But Williams won't concede he was ever in a shooting slump.

"I don't ever think that I lost my shot," Williams said. "Tonight I was just on."

Texas Christian's Junior Blount, left, loses the ball to Cincinnati freshman Chad Moore. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

So was forward Jason Maxiell, another Texas product. He scored a career-high 22 points, most of those on his trademark turnaround jump shot in the low post.

"Coach (Andy) Kennedy told me they don't have many post players who play real physical," Maxiell said. "I just took advantage of that."

But for all their offensive productivity, this game was still a struggle for UC. The Horned Frogs (6-7, 0-2 C-USA) trailed by 10 at the half but roared back to take a 69-67 lead on a Corey Santee 3-pointer with 6:51 to go.

That's when senior forward Leonard Stokes took over, as he has on at least three previous occasions this season, most recently Wednesday against DePaul.

He made a layup to tie the game, then sank two free throws to regain the lead for UC with 4:11 to go. Williams knocked in a 3 with 3:31 to go and UC's lead was five, 74-69.

Stokes, who finished with 20 points, scored six more points before the final buzzer, giving him 10 in the final 6:29 with the game on the line.

It was no coincidence his outburst came after a chat with Huggins as the game appeared to be slipping away.

"Lenny and I had a talk about him being a leader," Huggins said. "We need to have the ball in his hands. He's been here four years. He knows what's supposed to happen. He knows who to throw the ball to. He's got to get his hands on it. Those are the things our senior guys have always done."

It was nothing Stokes hasn't heard before, but it was delivered forcefully enough to hit home at the right time.

"Tonight it was a real serious talk," Stokes said. "We were on the road. You can't afford to let games slip away."

TCU's 72 points were nine below its average, but the second-most scored against UC this season and 17 more than the Bearcats' defensive average.

Bingo Merriex scored 18 to lead the Horned Frogs, followed by Junior Blount with 17 and Santee with 16.

In the end, though, it added up to a near-miss for TCU and its first-year head coach, Neil Dougherty.

"I said going into this game that we were going to be graded on our competitive level and on that alone, this was definitely our best game of the year," Dougherty said. "We made a team feel they couldn't guard us."

It wasn't a feeling that anyone on the UC bench was accustomed to, least of all Huggins.

"I hate to think the other team is too good for us to guard," Huggins said. "But tonight they were."

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

Cincinnati	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Hollman	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Maxiell	31	10	14	2	5	7	0	2	4	22
Williams	34	9	18	0	0	3	1	3	0	24
Stokes	35	6	8	8	8	6	3	0	1	20
Barker	19	1	5	0	0	3	10	1	2	3
Land	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Moore	23	2	6	1	2	3	5	2	0	5
Hicks	21	1	1	4	5	6	0	4	1	6
Flowers	17	0	2	1	2	6	1	1	0	1
Kirkland	10	1	4	0	0	2	1	2	0	2
Johnson	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Totals	200	30	58	16	22	42	21	14	12	83

Team rebounds: 6.

TCU	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Brown	28	2	6	4	7	11	0	4	0	8
Merriex	33	7	15	0	2	5	0	2	2	18
Santee	32	6	14	0	1	1	7	0	1	16
Blount	35	6	19	2	2	3	2	1	3	17
Valsin	27	3	7	0	0	4	1	3	0	7
Hobbs	0+	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Smith	17	0	0	0	0	0	6	1	1	0
Davis	14	1	3	0	0	3	0	2	0	2
Sloan	4	1	1	0	0	2	0	3	0	2
Carter	10	1	1	0	0	1	0	3	1	2
Totals	200	27	66	6	12	32	16	19	8	72

Team rebounds: 2.

Cincinnati	45	38	-83
TCU	35	37	-72

Attendance-6,089. 3-point goals-Cincinnati 7-17 (Williams 6-13, Stokes 0-1, Barker 1-2, Moore 0-1); TCU 12-30 (Merriex 4-9, Santee 4-9, Blount 3-9, Valsin 1-2, Davis 0-1). Technical fouls-None. Officials-Grom, Ely, Menees.

Coming up for UC

Wednesday	at St. Louis
Saturday	Tulane
Jan. 22	at E. Carolina