Cincinnati's B.J. Grove (left) hugs Steve Logan (front) in the final minutes of the Bearcats' win.(AP)

It was the Bearcats' seventh straight first-round win and gave coach Bob Huggins his 300th victory in 12 seasons at Cincinnati. It also set up an all-Ohio second-round game against Kent State on Saturday. The Golden Flashes surprised fourth-seeded Indiana 77-73.

Cincinnati is in its 10th straight NCAA Tournament, but has developed a one-win-and-out pattern the last four years, losing in the second round each of the last four years.

"It's a long story, but there's a lot of reasons that didn't happen," Huggins said of the Bearcats failing to advance out of the subregionals. "I felt we were fully the best team in the country last year, and the guy (Kenyon Martin) broke his leg.

"We've got beat by really good teams."

Martin, the Bearcats' senior center, broke his leg three minutes into a quarterfinal loss in the Conference USA Tournament last year. Cincinnati beat UNC Wilmington in the first round but was bounced by Tulsa. Martin was selected The Associated Press player of the year.

These Bearcats (24-9) are Huggins' youngest and least-experienced, starting three juniors and two sophomores, but they toyed with the Cougars (24-9) in the second half.

"We wanted to set the tempo and attack and get open shots," Huggins said. "I thought we played well in the second half."

Leading just 35-30 at halftime, the Bearcats came out and hit five 3-point shots in the first eight minutes, three by Logan, the Conference USA Player of the Year. They ran the lead to 54-34 on a slam dunk by Donald Little with 13:41 to play.

"We could have played our best game and still not won tonight," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "They got in a zone and shot the lights out."

Mekeli Wesley, who scored a game-high 25 for BYU, said the Cougars simply couldn't recover.

"It was an overwhelming feeling when they made some huge shots, from being down five or seven, then being down 16 that quickly," said Wesley, who scored the Cougars' last eight points.

Kenny Satterfield scored 14 for Cincinnati and Antwan Jones and B.J. Grove had 11 each.

Terrell Lyday and Trent Whiting scored 12 each for BYU, in the NCAAs for the first time since 1995 after winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

As the Bearcats went on their second-half run, Wesley and Lyday, the Cougars' two leading scorers, each picked up their third fouls. It didn't slow down Wesley, the MWC Player of the Year and tourney MVP, but Cincinnati built its lead.

Cincinnati finished 11-of-19 from the 3-point line, including seven in the second half. And after being consistently outrebounded in the final weeks of the regular season, the Bearcats had a 33-29 advantage.