CINCINNATI (AP) - A lot of assists and open shots made up for Cincinnati's soft defense.

Rashad Bishop scored a career-high 20 points Wednesday night, and Cincinnati overcame more defensive lapses before pulling away to a 92-68 victory over Toledo that showed the Bearcats still have a long way to go in learning how to stop teams.

The Bearcats (2-0) have given up a lot of uncontested shots in both of their wins, including a 69-62 victory over Prairie View A&M. On Wednesday, they had trouble shutting down one of the nation's youngest teams.

Toledo (0-2) starts three freshmen and a sophomore, and has eight freshmen on scholarship - tied for most in the country. Despite their lack of experience, this barely-out-of-high-school team pulled to within 57-49 with 14 minutes to go.

The reason? Toledo opened the second half by making seven of eight shots.

"Early on, we tend to get lackadaisical on the defensive end," said Deonta Vaughn, who had nine of Cincinnati's 27 assists, tied for third-highest team total in school history. "We've got to stop resting on the defensive end."

The Bearcats used their offensive superiority to pull away down the stretch, while the Rockets fell apart.

"We were a little more poised in the second half," Toledo coach Gene Cross said. "We came back with better composure and some grit and determination. One thing our guys have is fight. We just made young mistakes and mental errors that hurt you along the way, and they took advantage of it."

Cincinnati opened the game with a 17-3 run, but couldn't hold the Rockets down for long. Toledo shot 46 percent from the field overall and went 11 of 21 from behind the 3-point arc. Jake Barnett scored a team-high 21 points, and Stephen Albrecht added 19. Both are freshman guards.

"I liked that we distributed the ball more," Vaughn said. "We were more patient. We were hitting some shots and hustling. I didn't like that we still let teams get into the paint and shoot easy layups. Early on, we didn't bury a team like we should have when we got up. Overall, we've got some things to work on as a team."

Coach Mick Cronin thinks the Bearcats just need time to work their newcomers into a cohesive unit defensively.

"We have some new pieces," Cronin said. "Because we're subbing and using a deep rotation, you don't have the cohesiveness defensively. It's something they're going to have to get used to over time as we change lineups."

After scoring only five points on 2-of-10 shooting in his collegiate debut, Cincinnati freshman Lance Stephenson was smoother. The prep star from Brooklyn scored 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting, had a pair of assists and three rebounds. He also turned the ball over three times, missed a breakaway dunk and gave up some open shots.

"Lance is young," Cross said. "Whenever you have youth, they're still trying to figure out how to play defense. He's super talented and he's going to be a great player when all is said and done, but he's still learning, just like my young guys are."

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)