By Nancy Armour
The Associated Press

ROSEMONT, Ill. - DePaul coach Dave Leitao has been telling his players all season to play hard, attack and get nasty on defense and good things will happen. He won't have to say anything now. He can just point to the Blue Demons' 56-52 victory over Cincinnati on Wednesday.

"It's been proven to them how you can win games," Leitao said. "If we bring the same kind of intensity, then I know we have learned a pretty good lesson."

It was a huge victory for the Blue Demons (11-6, 3-3 Conference USA). They'd lost 23 of their last 24 games to Cincinnati (13-4, 6-1), including the last seven in a row. As the buzzer sounded, Marlon London tossed the ball in the air in celebration.

The Blue Demons may not be able to match Cincinnati for pure talent, but they outhustled, outscrapped and outworked the Bearcats on Wednesday night.

They shot 43 percent against a Cincinnati squad that had the nation's sixth-best defense, and had a whopping 22-4 edge in the paint. Delonte Holland matched his career high with 22 points and had a team-high nine rebounds.

The Blue Demons also outrebounded the Bearcats 37-29, including 12 offensive boards.

"Basically our focus has been on defense," said Sam Hoskin, who made four free throws in the final 25 seconds to seal the victory. "We had been playing good defense, but couldn't score."

Not even blowing an 11-point, second-half lead could rattle the Blue Demons. In fact, Leitao told his team at halftime to expect a challenge like that.

"We were pretty excited, but he came in to tell us the game wasn't over," Hoskin said. "Not to celebrate."

"I knew they had a run or runs left in them," Leitao said. "I knew we got some free baskets in the first half and maybe they wouldn't be as free in the second."

Leitao was right. A floater from Delonte Holland gave DePaul a 40-29 lead with 13:13 to play, but the Bearcats responded with a 12-0 run. Taron Barker and Williams made 3s, and Leonard Stokes made four straight free throws.

Jason Maxiell then scored on a turnaround jumper, pushing Cincinnati ahead 41-40 with 9:18 to play.

Williams hit a 3-pointer from NBA range to give the Bearcats a 47-46 lead, but Andre Brown made a layup and Holland scored on a follow to give DePaul a 50-47 lead with 3:29 to play.

Stokes and Maxiell each missed the front end of one-and-ones, but Stokes hit a 3-pointer with 1:59 left to tie it at 50.

Then Drake Diener came up big, scoring his only basket, a floater in the lane, to give DePaul a 52-50 lead with 51.9 seconds left. Hoskin then made his free throws to put the game away.

"I'm very proud of the guys," Leitao said. "We rose to the challenge. The way Cincinnati plays, everybody has to play and meet their toughness. We didn't wilt when they made their runs."