College basketball

C-USA men: Demons respond in rematch

ROSEMONT, Ill. - DePaul made sure from the start the rematch with Cincinnati would be different.

Quemont Greer had 25 points and Drake Diener added 22 to lead the Blue Demons to an 85-66 victory over the No. 21 Bearcats on Saturday.

Cincinnati beat DePaul 83-54 at home on Jan. 6, but the Blue Demons dominated almost every phase of the rematch to win their fourth straight and eighth of nine.

DePaul was aggressive offensively right from the start, something the Blue Demons didn't do in the first time meeting.

"That was our game plan ... to just attack and be aggressive and get to the basket. We have great players so we were able to finish," said DePaul's Sammy Mejia, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds. "We were really aggressive offensively and they seemed kind of surprised."

Leading 57-45 with 14:33 left, DePaul went on a 16-4 run. Mejia started the spurt with a 3-pointer and had nine points in it. He capped the run with consecutive jumpers that extended the lead to 73-49 with 9:03 to play.

MARQUETTE 71, EAST CAROLINA 69 (OT): Travis Diener scored 31 including the winning jumper with 2.6 seconds left for visiting Marquette. Steve Novak hit a 3-pointer with 3.6 seconds left in regulation to force overtime for the Golden Eagles, capping a rally from a seven-point deficit in the final three minutes of regulation.

CHARLOTTE 83, SAINT LOUIS 78 (OT): Curtis Withers scored a career-high 39 for the visiting 49ers, who hit 11-of-12 on free throws in overtime. The Billikens tied it at 70 with two seconds left in regulation on Danny Brown's 3-pointer, forcing OT.

HOUSTON 75, SOUTHERN MISS 53: Andre Owens had 15 of his 20 points in the first half for the visiting Cougars, who never trailed. Houston opened with a 21-4 run.

MEMPHIS 103, TULANE 71: Rodney Carney scored 28 and led a Memphis 3-point barrage. Carney hit 8-of-19 shots and Memphis hit 12-of-24 on 3-pointers in winning its fifth in the past six games.

TCU 76, UAB 65: Nile Murry scored 17 to lead the host Horned Frogs, who won their third straight by rallying from a six-point halftime deficit.

[Last modified February 13, 2005, 01:08:17]