BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB Blazers' reserves shined while No. 17 Cincinnati's star was a virtual no-show.
It was that kind of game for the Bearcats, who lost 80-69 Wednesday night and continued their late-season fade.
Mo Finley had 13 points and Ronell Taylor added 12 in just 17 minutes for the rising Blazers (16-6, 9-2 Conference USA), who moved into a tie with idle Memphis atop the league standings leading up to Saturday's meeting. The home fans rushed the court while the Bearcats (17-5, 8-3) wondered what's happened to a season that started with 13 straight wins.
"Mo Finley made some big shots for them," said Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins, whose team lost for the fourth time in six games. "He made big shots when he had to, and we had nobody who did."
The Bearcats held an 8-0 lead, then fell behind and made only a brief comeback attempt, almost exclusively at the free throw line. Leading scorer Tony Bobbitt fouled out without getting a point and Huggins' squad looked like anything like a team ranked sixth on Jan. 19.
"What's happened to us would wake anybody up, but it hasn't," Huggins said.
UAB did almost everything right after the slow start. The Blazers got 37 points from the reserves, forced 21 turnovers while committing only 10 and made 26 of 31 free throws.
"You look up and you're down 8-0 to a great team," coach Mike Anderson said. "I thought our guys came out with the mind-set that we're going to be in attack mode. You can just see the aggressiveness in our guys. The intensity level was terrific.
"One thing about a Bob Huggins-coached team, they will not go away. And they didn't."
The Bearcats cut a 16-point deficit to 62-55 on Armein Kirkland's two free throws with 6:40 left. They made 14 consecutive foul shots, but had only one field goal during a six-minute span.
Then UAB took over at the line, going 18-for-23 over the final 11:11. Demario Eddins scored nine of his 11 points in the second half, all on free throws.
"We knew they were going to come at us with a big run," Taylor said. "We came out and made our free throws down the stretch.
"It was a great feeling for us."
But not so great for Cincinnati, which lost despite holding UAB to 39 percent shooting and dominating in rebounding, 47-31.
"They played harder than we did," Bobbitt said. "We played hard at times, but we've got to sustain our intensity. We had a bad night shooting from outside and that really hurt us."
Carldell "Squeaky" Johnson sparked the defensive effort for the Blazers, logging five assists and four steals and drawing several charges.
"To me, Squeaky Johnson was the MVP," Huggins said. "He took four or five charges, made a ton of hustle plays. He didn't make a field goal and I thought he was the best player on the floor. He got them into their game and didn't get rattled."
Jason Maxiell led the Bearcats with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Field Williams and Kirkland had 11 apiece. Jamaal Lucas added 10 points.
Bobbitt, the nation's No. 2 scorer among nonstarters, missed all four field goals before fouling out with 6:29 left. Nick Williams fouled out 16 seconds earlier.
The Blazers have won seven of their past eight games and snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Bearcats.
Cincinnati wilted under the Blazers' pressure defense midway through the first half. UAB forced seven turnovers in a 20-5 run and held Cincinnati to two field goals in an 8:34 span.
The lead stretched to 43-27 on Taylor's 3-pointer with 55 seconds left.
Field Williams answered 25 seconds later with the Bearcats' only 3-pointer of the half. They were just 7-of-16 from the line, making one 3-pointer in 10 attempts for their second-lowest first-half point total of the season.
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