Cincinnati Bearcats Stun Georgetown in Double Overtime

       The Cincinnati Bearcats were down 49-38 with just under eight and a half minutes left in the game. Goergetown, the number fourteen team in the country, had been leading for the majority of the game, led by senior center Henry Sims. Sims scored twenty-two points and grabbed a career-high fifteen rebounds, along with assisting Otto Porter for the game-tying basket at the end of regulation and scoring a game-tying layup at the end of the first overtime. However, UC finished the game with a miraculous 16-5 run that sent the game into overtime. Yancy Gates, Cincinnati's center who is infamously known for throwing a punch in the Crosstown Shootout Brawl, scored 10 of his 23 points during this stretch. He even had a fadeaway three-pointer at the end of regulation which looked destined for the basket but went a foot past the rim. In a game where Henry Sims' draft prospects increased exponentially, the Bearcats needed Gates' 23 and 8 to match the Hoyas' big man step for step.

Courtesy of http://slapthesign.com/2012/03/08/cincinnati-72-georgetown-70-in-double-overtime/

       In the first overtime, with the score tied 54 to 54, four different Cincinnati players scored while it was Sims and Porter who led Georgetown. Both teams exchanged baskets and it was Sims who made a layup with one second remaining to send the game to a second overtime. In the second OT, there were five lead changes and it was Cashmere Wright's jumper with nine seconds left that gave 72-70 lead. In Georgetown's final possession, the Hoyas showed no urgency getting down the court and Henry Sims ended up with the ball at the top of the key. He had a good look, but a 6'10" center with no three point attempts in the past two years is not the player to take the final shot from that distance. His shot clanked against the back of the rim and UC had clinched the victory.
       While Cincinnati had the lower seed in terms of the Big East Tournament, Georgetown has been ranked in the top fifteen for most of the season and UC was not ranked entering the matchup. The Bearcats move on to play Syracuse tonight and look to get revenge for their seven-point home loss to the Orange in January. If the Bearcats beat Syracuse or manage to win the Big East Tourney, they may end up being selected as high as a five seed in the NCAA Tournament. If Cincinnati loses to the #2 team in the country, they will likely be a seven, eight, or nine seed for the tournament. Georgetown is almost guaranteed to be a three or four seed.