CINCINNATI (AP) -- As Kenyon Martin stepped to the foul line in the closing seconds with the game in hand, the Shoemaker Center rang with the chant: "We're No. 1!"

Only a couple of minutes earlier, the crowd worried that third-ranked Cincinnati might be headed in the opposite direction.

Pete Mickeal scored 23 points and Kenyon Martin added 19 Saturday and led the Bearcats on a late rally to a 67-48 victory over Marquette.

Cincinnati (14-1, 3-0 Conference USA) went cold and got sloppy in the second half, allowing Marquette (8-5, 1-1) to cut a 21-point deficit to 50-44 on John Cliff's three free throws with 5:09 left.

Mickeal and Martin took the lead as Cincinnati outscored Marquette 17-4 the rest of the way and got the crowd thinking of a return to No. 1 in the polls.

Second-ranked Connecticut lost to Notre Dame on Wednesday and top-ranked Stanford lost to Arizona 68-65 a few minutes after Cincinnati closed out its ragged win. The Bearcats were No. 1 before their loss to crosstown-rival Xavier last month.

"It's just a ranking. It's not special," Mickeal said. "It gives other guys more incentive when they come out to play us, that's all it does."

Marquette had plenty of incentive Saturday, but couldn't overcome a horrid first half. The Golden Eagles scored a season-low 17 points while falling behind 31-17.

Cliff and Oluoma Nnamaka led the second-half comeback, which ran out of steam as the Golden Eagles ran out of players. Marquette had three players foul out in the closing minutes and finished with three others players only one foul away from joining them.

Marquette was called for 31 fouls in all, most of them inside, as the Golden Eagles tried to contain Cincinnati's quicker front line. The Bearcats hit 28-of-44 from the foul line, making the difference.

"They're very athletic, more athletic than the teams we usually play, so they can be tough to guard," Nnamaka said.

Cliff led Marquette with 17 points and Nnamaka added 13 points, 10 of them in the second half.

Cincinnati has made a habit of jumping out to big leads -- 11-0 and 10-0 in recent wins over UNLV and UNC Charlotte. The Bearcats did it again Saturday, surging ahead 9-0 as Martin had a turnaround jumper, a steal and dunk and a free throw in the opening five minutes.

Marquette couldn't get open shots against the Bearcats' extended man-to-man defense. The Golden Eagles repeatedly dribbled to the sideline, where they became easy prey for the Bearcats' traps.

In the first 13 minutes, Marquette hit only 3-of-16 and had nine turnovers.

The Bearcats pushed the lead to double digits when coach Bob Huggins put four freshmen on the floor for a couple minutes midway through the first half.

Guards DerMarr Johnson, Kenny Satterfield and Leonard Stokes and redshirt center Donald Little put together a 7-0 run that made it 22-9. Johnson hit a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws added a couple of free throws.

Marquette was trying to extend a three-game winning streak that included a 65-63 win over Xavier, the team that gave Cincinnati its only loss last month.

The Golden Eagles overcame an 18-point deficit in the second half against Xavier, but couldn't duplicate the comeback on Cincinnati's home court, where the Bearcats have won 38 straight.

Nnamaka scored six points in a 13-4 spurt that cut it to 42-31 and his basket made it 49-41 with 5:47 to go. Marquette took advantage of Cincinnati's cold shooting -- 3-of-13 over a 12-minute stretch -- to whittle the lead.

"We had a lapse and we can't worry about it," said Martin, who had a game-high 10 rebounds. "We've got to make up for it."

After Cliff's three free throws got the lead down to six points, Martin and Mickeal scored eight points together in a 12-4 spurt that ended the comeback.

Since the 66-64 loss to Xavier on Dec. 18, Cincinnati has won its last six games by 15, 33, 32, 40, 27 points and 19 points.