By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

UC's Jason Maxiell is fouled by Charlotte's Calvin Clemmons. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

Leonard Stokes was in his element. The University of Cincinnati Bearcats trailed Conference USA rival Charlotte by one point with less than two minutes to go Saturday when Stokes maneuvered along the baseline, looking for a crease that would enable him to get off another clutch shot.

But the 49ers boxed Stokes in with defenders as the shot clock wound down.

Fortunately for UC, point guard Taron Barker lingered out near the 3-point line just in case he was needed.

"I could hear the crowd counting down," Stokes said. "I looked at the shot clock, and with two seconds left, (Barker) was open, so I threw it out to him."

Barker took it from there, releasing a 3-pointer with one second remaining in the possession.

"I was just hoping 'T' would get it off in time," said UC coach Bob Huggins. "I thought that hitch in his shot wouldn't get it off."

No problem. Barker nailed the shot with 1:52 left in the game and UC reclaimed its lead.

The Bearcats held on to beat Charlotte 83-79 before a sellout crowd of 13,176 fans at Shoemaker Center. The victory was UC's eighth straight.

Charlotte's Curtis Withers and UC's Rod Flowers battle for a loose ball. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

The 49ers (7-9, 2-3 C-USA) haven't beaten the Bearcats (13-3, 6-0) at Shoemaker in eight tries.

Barker wasn't finished. Moments after making his crucial shot and with UC leading by four, he stripped Charlotte's Demon Brown of the ball as Brown elevated for a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left.

Brown had made six treys in the second half.

"Even if it was a bad shot, it was one I had to take," Brown said. "I didn't have another option."

Going for the steal was a risky move for Barker, given the chance that he could have sent Brown to the free throw line with a foul, but Barker didn't see it that way.

"He put it right in front of me," Barker said. "It was better than taking the chance of letting him take that 3. He was hot."

Brown, who leads the nation with 4.9 treys per game, scored just two points and no treys in the first half. But he scored 20 points in the first 10:04 of the second half to bring his team back from a large deficit.

"We told him at halftime that we wanted him to make some shots," said Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz. "We did a better job of screening for him."

Said Huggins: "He got some shots he didn't have to work that hard for. Then he started making really hard shots because he got his confidence."

Brown finished with a game-high 22 points, but he didn't score in the final 10 minutes.

While Brown was hot, though, he was a show all by himself and a source of severe frustration for UC, which was helpless to stop him.

"There wasn't too much we could do," Barker said. "We put a hand in his face, but he was making them. Those were some tough shots."

The Bearcats played one of their best offensive games of the season. Led by Stokes' 20 points, they matched their season high of 83 points and shot 50 percent for only the third time.

But their defense left much to be desired. In addition to Brown's onslaught from long-range, UC allowed 26 points in the paint. The 49ers' 79 points were a season high for a Bearcats opponent, as was Charlotte's 49.2 shooting percentage.

"We're not as good as what we were a couple of weeks ago," Huggins said. "We've slipped some defensively."

As they usually do, though, the Bearcats found a way to secure the victory. This time, they did it with good shooting and Barker's two key plays.

In the end, Charlotte went home empty-handed again.

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

Charlotte	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Johnson	12	0	4	1	2	0	2	1	0	1
Basden	28	3	4	1	2	4	2	4	2	8
Reed	20	5	7	3	5	6	0	3	1	13
Nash	34	4	9	0	0	4	4	2	2	10
Brown	34	7	15	2	2	2	2	3	4	22
Withers	27	6	10	1	1	3	3	1	1	13
Grier	15	2	3	2	2	4	2	2	1	6
Baldwin	12	1	3	0	0	0	3	1	0	2
Clemmons	18	2	6	0	0	3	0	3	0	4
Totals	200	30	61	10	14	30	18	20	10	79

Team rebounds - 4.

Cincinnati	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Stokes	37	6	11	6	7	5	6	0	3	20
Hicks	15	3	5	0	0	3	0	1	0	6
Flowers	19	4	9	0	0	4	1	3	0	8
Williams	31	3	5	6	6	2	0	1	0	15
Barker	25	2	5	0	0	3	6	3	0	6
Moore	14	3	6	2	2	3	4	0	2	9
Lucas	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bobbitt	8	2	3	1	2	0	2	1	0	5
Kirkland	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
Johnson	19	1	1	0	0	3	0	2	3	2
Maxiell	27	3	8	6	8	4	1	1	2	12
Totals	200	27	54	21	25	33	20	12	10	83

Team rebounds - 4.

Charlotte	31	48	-79
Cincinnati	44	39	-83

3-pointers - Ch. 9-22 (Johnson 0-1, Basden 1-1, Nash 2-5, Brown 6-13, Withers 0-1, Baldwin 0-1), UC 8-15 (Stokes 2-3, Williams 3-5, Barker 2-4, Moore 1-1, Bobbitt 0-1, Kirkland 0-1). Technicals - None. Officials - Valentine, Whitehead, Ware.

Attendance - 13,176.