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After losing three-straight games in the Big East, the University of Cincinnati men’s basketball team ended its skid with a 74-66 win against the DePaul Blue Demons Saturday night at Fifth Third Arena.

The Bearcats (16-7, 6-4 Big East) relied on a team effort, as they had five players score in double figures.

“I was really happy with our composure all night — as happy as I’ve been in a while,” said UC head coach Mick Cronin. “As a coach, that’s one of the things you preach, and the guys stayed calm throughout everything that was going on.”

UC guards Dion Dixon and Sean Kilpatrick led the way with 16 points each, followed by Justin Jackson, who netted 14, while Yancy Gates and Cashmere Wright added 11 each.

The Cats’ defensive pressure was too much for the Blue Demons, forcing 18 turnovers that led to a 22-10 advantage in points off turnovers.

DePaul guard James Crockett opened the game up early for the Demons, scoring eight points in the first four minutes to give DePaul a quick 9-6 lead. Blue Demons’ forward Cleveland Melvin followed this up with 12 points, helping the Demons to lead by as many as five points twice during the first half.

Prior to the start of Saturday’s game, the Bearcats led the Big East in 3-point shooting, but missed their first eight shots before Kilpatrick connected from downtown with seven seconds remaining in the first half to cut DePaul’s halftime lead to 38-36. While the first half was won by the Blue Demons, the second half belonged to the Cats, who shot 50 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes of play.

“I didn’t play too much in the first half — I was in foul trouble — but I guess we took our time in the second half,” Wright — who scored all of his points in the second half — said. “In the first half, we were kind of pressing, not really running our offense. We were taking the first available shot and not running through and getting the open shot.”

The Bearcats would end the game on a 12-2 run to claim the win and snap their losing streak.

Earlier in the week, Cronin called his teams’ toughness into question, which some players thought helped fuel motivation for Saturday’s game.

“Coach [Cronin] just told us that we have to get back to what we were doing when we had suspended players,” Wright said. “We have to get back to having fun, [playing] fast paced with nobody worrying about mistakes. He said the last three games we worried about mistakes, and everybody was trying to do their own thing and not worry about the team. We have to get back to a team game.”

Cincinnati went 17-of-28 from the free throw line, compared to during the losing streak when the Bearcats went a combined 19-of-37 from the charity stripe.

“We got to the foul line quite a bit throughout the game,” Cronin said. “Just like my friend Dean Gregory who doesn’t get wins in golf, he takes a win any way that he can get. That’s what he says because wins are rare against me.”

Cincinnati begins a two-game road trip as they travel to New York City to face St.John’s at 7 p.m. Wednesday before heading to Marquette Saturday.