The No. 4 seed Cincinnati Bearcats needed double-overtime to beat the No. 5 Georgetown Hoyas, 72-70 in a classic Big East Tournament quarterfinal game.
Cincinnati guard Cashmere Wright made a soft, running bank shot with eight seconds remaining in the second overtime which would prove to be the game-winning bucket for the Bearcats. Following Wright's score, Cincinnati forced a contested, three-point shot from Georgetown forward Henry Sims which bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Cincinnati needed both overtimes after failing to close out Georgetown in regulation and the first overtime, despite a strong effort to fight back in regulation to put themselves in position to win.
After falling behind by ten points with just over nine minutes to play, Cincinnati closed the game in strong fashion, using a 16-4 run to take a two point lead with 25 seconds left in the game. Georgetown kept playing, worked the ball around and finally found Otto Porter who coaxed in a short jump shot to tie the game with four seconds left which put the game into overtime.
Cincinnati appeared to have the game in control in the first overtime after taking a three-point lead, but Dion Dixon missed a free throw to give Georgetown the ball down two. After Cincinnati shut down the perimeter for the Hoyas, Henry Sims took the ball in the lane and made a layup with less than a second to play to send the game into double-overtime.
Yancy Gates fought through the Georgetown zone defense to score 20 points with seven rebounds. Sims led the way for the Hoyas with 16 points and 15 rebounds
Cincinnati now plays top seed Syracuse in the semifinals on Friday after the Orange survived on to beat Connecticut 58-55 in overtime.
For more on the Hoyas, visit Casual Hoya, SB Nation's Georgetown blog. For more on the Bearcats, visit Down The Drive, SB Nation's Cincinnati blog. For all your Big East news during championship week, check out Big East Coast Bias. Click here for more on the 2012 Big East Tournament.