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C-USA Championship Pairing Sticks to the Script
By VITO FORLENZA
AP MegaSports Writer
The Conference USA tournament brackets have worked out as
planned, as the league's top two teams will meet for the championship.
While both top-seeded and No. 5 Cincinnati
(29-3) and second-seeded and No. 13 Marquette
(26-5) are assured to be in the 65-team field of
the NCAA tournament, they will be playing for
bragging rights when they meet Saturday at the
Firstar Center in Cincinnati.
The two teams split their season series, with
the home team winning both times. Marquette beat
Cincinnati 74-60 on Feb. 2, while the Bearcats
prevailed 63-62 on Feb. 22.
Cincinnati will also try to stake claim for a
No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Bearcats
are also aiming to win their third C-USA
tournament title in the seven-year history of
the league. They won the tournament crown in
1996 and 1998.
With a team that has a legitimate chance to win
the school's first national title since
back-to-back championships in 1961-62,
Cincinnati matched the school record for wins
with Friday's 71-55 semifinal victory over
fourth-seeded
Charlotte.
The Bearcats made it to the tournament title
game for the second straight year despite a
subpar game from senior guard Steve Logan. The
two-time conference player of the year scored
just seven points � 15 below his average.
``He's a little bit beat up,'' Huggins said.
``He takes a lot of physical abuse.''
Donald Little led Cincinnati with 16 points, and
Leonard Stokes added 15 as the Bearcats used
their balance to pick up the slack for Logan.
``For me to only score seven points and we win
by 16 � that's impressive,'' Logan said.
Logan, who played just 22 minutes in Thursday's
79-57 win over South Florida, had scored in
double figures in his last 51 games, reaching
the 20-point mark in 10 of his past 14.
He will look to regain his form in time to match
the play of Marquette's Cordell Henry.
Henry played through the pain of a twisted ankle
and scored 27 points to lift Marquette to a
85-73 semifinal win over sixth-seeded Houston on
Friday. Dwyane Wade scored 18 points, and Oluoma
Nnamaka added 11.
Henry's strong shooting performance was his
second in as many days. In Thursday's 75-69 win
over Louisville, the senior guard led Marquette
with 24 points.
``Cordell belongs in any kind of game,'' coach
Tom Crean said.
Though Henry played all but three minutes of the
last two games, it's not something that
particularly concerns him.
``You can't worry about your minutes when you're
playing,'' said Henry, who was 9-of-16 from the
field against the Cougars. ``You've just got to
keep playing, keep fighting through it. You
can't think about your legs getting tired.''
He will look to continue his sharp shooting,
while helping Marquette capture its second
Conference USA tournament title.
Marquette hasn't appeared in the title game
since 1997, when it beat Charlotte for its only
C-USA title. That season, the Golden Eagles
didn't have the luxury of a first-round bye,
winning four games in as many days.
Copyright 2001
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:50:17 AM
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