CINCINNATI (AP) -- Win No. 20 came quicker than ever for top-ranked Cincinnati. It also came with a twist.

Instead of putting an opponent away early like they usually do, the Bearcats had to work hard to finally shake free of South Florida. Kenyon Martin and Steve Logan scored 19 points each as Cincinnati eventually pulled away to an 89-72 victory Saturday.

	Kenyon Martin was his usual self with 19 points for the Bearcats on Saturday.

One good half was enough.

"In any case in any game, it would come down to us -- what we don't do right," said Pete Mickeal, who added 16 points and 10 rebounds. "In the second half, we got it done."

Five players scored in double digits as Cincinnati (20-1, 8-0 Conference USA) got a school-record ninth consecutive 20-win season. Last year, the Bearcats established a school record by getting No. 20 on Jan. 30, and bettered the mark by one day this season.

From all appearances, this Cincinnati team is more than just one day better than last year's team, which lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

"This is a very talented team," South Florida coach Seth Greenberg said. "The pieces fit well together. They remind me of the UNLV team that won the national championship, the way their pieces fit."

South Florida (12-8, 3-4) gave the Bearcats their toughest challenge yet at home, where they've won 41 in a row. The Bulls led most of the first half and trailed by only two early in the second, before fouls and South Florida's history caught up with them.

The Bulls have lost their last 22 against ranked teams, a streak of futility that started in the 1991-92 season.

"In the second half, they wore us down and we were just not as tough as we need to be to win a game on the road against a team of that caliber," Greenberg said.

Cedric Smith led South Florida with 19 points.

South Florida's B.B. Waldon, the conference's top scorer at 19.1 points a game, didn't start because he was late for a practice and sat out the first nine minutes. He scored nine points, breaking his streak of 12 straight games in double digits, and fouled out with 8:14 to play.

The Bulls didn't miss him at the outset. They aggressively took the ball at Cincinnati's front line and got the Bearcats on their heels. Chonsey Asbury twice scored inside against Martin as South Florida opened with a 9-2 spurt.

"We did prepare for (Waldon)," Cincinnati's Ryan Fletcher said. "Him not being out there I think made us a little lackadaisical, seeing that their top scorer was on the bench. But they came out and played harder than they might have if he'd been in there."

South Florida, the highest-scoring team in the conference, patiently worked for open shots against Cincinnati's man-to-man defense, which is the stingiest in the conference. The Bulls made seven of their first nine shots while opening a 16-7 lead.

Cincinnati didn't get in gear until late in the half. Logan hit consecutive 3-pointers in a 24-second span and Fletcher made a three-point play, completing a 12-0 run that put the Bearcats ahead for the first time 35-28.

Waldon's basket cut it to 40-36 at halftime and Alton Jackson's basket made it 42-40 early in the second half. It was an unaccustomed position for Cincinnati, which is known for getting ahead by a lot in the first half and then coasting.

"I think we showed everyone who said we couldn't play the second half that we could," Martin said.

Cincinnati went on a 17-5 spurt that broke the game open and took a toll on the Bulls' depth. Asbury and Scott Johnson picked up their third fouls during the four-minute spurt, and Greenberg got a technical for going onto the court to protest a charging call.

The technical set up a four-point burst by Cincinnati that made it 59-45 with 14:46 left. Mickeal and DerMarr Johnson each hit 3-pointers in the run.

South Florida never got closer than 11. Johnson scored seven consecutive points in a 10-0 run that pushed the lead to 20 in the final minutes.