CINCINNATI (AP) -- Dion Dixon scored 20 points and Cashmere Wright added 13 for a Cincinnati team that never trailed in a 62-57 Big East win over Seton Hall on Saturday.
JaQuon Parker also reached double figures with 12 points for the Bearcats, who jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first 4:16 before a near-sellout crowd of 13,003, 173 short of capacity at Fifth Third Arena.
Cincinnati (19-8, 9-5) has won two straight and three out of four going into a conference matchup Thursday with No. 19 Louisville in Cincinnati.
Fuquan Edwin and Jordan Theodore each scored 15 points for the streaky Pirates (18-9, 7-8), who had won three straight after a six-game losing streak. They are scheduled to face 10th-ranked Georgetown at home on Tuesday.
Herb Pope scored six points in the second half to finish with 10 for Seton Hall.
Cincinnati led by 14 points, 44-30, with 14:35 left in the second half before Seton Hall cut the lead to four points twice in the last 30 seconds, but Dixon made two free throws and Parker addd one -- all on the front end of bonus situations -- to hold off the Pirates.
Cincinnati made six of its first 10 3-pointers to open a 30-15 lead with 5:31 left in the first half against the Big East's second-best 3-point defense. The Bearcats settled for a 37-28 halftime lead behind Dixon's 11 points and 10 from Wright.
Cincinnati's Yancy Gates, who was suspended for six games for his part in the brawl that ended Cincinnati's 76-53 loss at Xavier on Dec. 10 with 34 seconds left, drew a technical in this one after vehemently ripping the ball away from Theodore. The two were wrestling for a rebound with 4:54 left in the first half.
