By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinatti's Jason Maxiell grabs a rebound over Memphis' Earl Barron. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

MEMPHIS -The University of Cincinnati Bearcats, having already become the first UC team to fail to win the Conference USA regular-season championship, added another breakthrough to their resume Saturday night when they lost to No. 24 Memphis 67-48.

It was the first UC loss against a C-USA National Division team after 35 straight wins.

The Memphis victory, before a Pyramid-record crowd of 20,586, was the first for Memphis coach John Calipari over UC's Bob Huggins in six tries.

The Bearcats (16-9, 8-6 C-USA) saw a modest two-game winning streak come to an end. They remain in a continuing fight with UAB for the fourth and final first-round bye in the March 10-12 conference tournament in Louisville.

Memphis (20-5, 11-3) has won nine straight games and ended a string of six straight losses to UC.

Huggins and Calipari both joined a group of coaches around the country who coached Saturday wearing a bow tie to honor Mount St. Mary's College coach Jim Phelan, who's retiring at the end of this season after 49 years at the school.

Six-foot-9 senior Chris Massie, who missed most of the first half due to foul trouble, scored 23 points to lead the Tigers, but saw his string of seven straight double-doubles come to an end.

The Bearcats, who shot a season-low 24.6 percent, were led by junior guard Tony Bobbitt, who scored 12 points off the bench.

"We didn't make any shots," Huggins said, repeating a familiar refrain. "When you shoot 15 percent in the second half and make four field goals, you've got no chance to win."

Memphis' Billy Richmond, back left, tries to block a shot by Cincinnati's Armein Kirkland. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Senior Leonard Stokes, UC's leading scorer at 16.5 points per game, was held to a season-low five points on 1-of-8 shooting.

"I was just trying to drive down the lane," Stokes said, "but they were running somebody at me. Sometimes I got to the paint and tried to jump stop and got a couple of free throws, but not many.

"I didn't make plays for my team."

Forward Jason Maxiell scored eight on 3-of-14 shooting.

"Let's tell the truth," Huggins said. "We're not got going to win if Leonard Stokes and Jason Maxiell go 4-for-22. Lenny had five points. How are we going to win?"

The 19-point margin was the most lopsided defeat for UC in a C-USA game, eclipsing the 74-60 loss the Bearcats suffered to Marquette on Feb. 2, 2002.

With Memphis trailing 29-27 at halftime, Massie got to work in a hurry in the second.

He scored 10 straight points in less than four minutes to wipe out a one-point UC lead and give the Tigers a 44-38 lead with 10:47 to go.

With 13:48 to go and the Tigers trailing by one, he stole the ball from Stokes, dribbled the length of the floor and was fouled by Taron Barker as Stokes slapped his layup off the backboard for a goal tend.

Massie converted the 3-point play to give Memphis a 38-36 lead. UC pulled even at 38 but would never lead again.

A 3-pointer by Rodney Carney and a follow shot of his own miss by Massie gave Memphis a 51-40 lead with 7:30 to go. Memphis has outscored the Bearcats 13-2 to take control of the game.

UC had through another discouraging shooting performance in the first half. The Bearcats shot just 31 percent and at one point endured a 4:02 stretch without a field goal.

But Memphis failed to take advantage. The Tigers built a 24-18 lead with 5:29 to go in the half on a transition layup by Carney.

UC countered with an Armein Kirkland baseline jump shot and two straight field goals from Bobbitt, one of which was a 23-foot bomb that capped a 7-point run and gave UC a 25-24 lead.

E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com

UC	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Stokes	27	1	8	3	4	4	1	1	3	5
Maxiell	32	3	14	2	2	3	0	1	0	8
Hollman	10	0	1	0	0	3	0	2	0	0
Williams	26	3	10	0	0	2	0	0	1	9
Barker	38	2	7	0	0	7	6	4	0	4
Land	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Moore	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Meeker	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hicks	11	0	2	2	4	4	0	2	0	2
Bobbitt	18	4	11	2	2	3	0	4	0	12
Kirkland	8	1	4	4	4	2	0	1	1	6
Johnson	22	1	4	0	0	8	1	4	0	2
Totals	200	15	61	13	16	39	9	20	5	48

Team rebounds - 3.

Memphis	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Massie	24	8	11	7	9	8	2	2	0	23
Grice	12	0	3	0	0	2	1	0	0	0
Barron	33	0	4	2	2	7	1	3	2	2
Burks	23	4	9	4	4	2	1	4	0	12
Root	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
Wade	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hunt	26	4	8	1	4	2	3	3	1	12
Carney	22	2	6	0	0	7	0	3	1	5
Erwin	13	0	1	0	0	4	0	1	0	0
Richmond	20	4	7	1	3	2	1	2	1	10
Rice	22	1	3	1	3	3	5	0	1	3
Totals	200	23	52	16	25	41	15	18	8	67

Team rebounds - 4.

UC	29	19	-48
Memphis	27	40	-67

3-pointers - UC 5-20 (Stokes 0-1, Williams 3-8, Bobbitt 2-7, Kirkland 0-1), M 5-17 (Grice 0-3, Barron 0-1, Hunt 3-6, Carney 1-5, Richmond 0-1, Rice 0-1). Technicals - None. Officials - Hillary, Croft Caldwell. Attendance - 20,586.

CONFERENCE USA

American

	Conf.		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Marquette	13	2	22	4
Louisville	10	4	20	5
Cincinnati	8	6	16	9
Charlotte	8	6	13	13
St. Louis	7	7	13	12
DePaul	6	8	14	11
E.Carolina	3	12	12	14

National

	Conf.		Overall
	W	L	W	L
Memphis	11	3	20	5
UAB	8	6	16	9
Tulane	7	7	14	13
South Florida	6	8	13	12
Houston	6	8	8	17
S.Mississippi	5	10	12	14
TCU	2	13	8	19

Saturday's Games

Memphis 67, Cincinnati 48

Louisville 82, East Carolina 76

Saint Louis 76, Tulane 74, 2OT

Charlotte 58, DePaul 50

S. Miss 70, S.Florida 62

Houston 75, TCU 57

Marquette 98, UAB 87

Today's Games

No games scheduled.