Sophomore Yancy Gates wants to restore the legacy at Cincinnati basketball. After consecutive victories over ranked opponents, the Bearcats are well on their way.
Gates scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and added 13 rebounds and Deonta Vaughn had 16 points in leading the Bearcats to the championship game of the Maui Invitational in Hawai’i with a surprising 69-57 victory over No. 21 Maryland on Tuesday at the Lahaina Civic Center.
“Maui is the top tournament in the country,” Gates said after scoring 12 of Cincinnati’s 22 points during a second-half stretch that helped fend off the feisty Terrapins.
“For us if we can win this tournament and get our name up on that (championship) banner forever, I think it would be good step toward restoring Bearcat history and also building our confidence as the season goes on.”
Cincinnati will now take on Gonzaga in today’s championship game, a major accomplishment for a young program making its first appearance on Maui.
“There’s no question that our guys are trying to restore the Bearcat tradition,” Bearcats coach Mick Cronin said. “We got a chance to put our name on that banner now tomorrow. We’ve been to our share of Final Fours and our two national championships.”
Northwest men
Gonzaga 74, Wisconsin 61 — Led by Matt Bouldin’s 18 points, four players scored in double digits and Gonzaga advanced to the championship game of the Maui Invitational in Laihana, Hawai’i with a convincing victory. Steven Gray scored 15 points, Robert Sacre 13 and Elias Harris 12 for Gonzaga (4-1), which will meet Cincinnati in tonight’s championship game.
Leading by 10 at halftime, the Bulldogs extended their lead to 14 when Demetri Goodson delivered a coast-to-coast layup with 16:41 to play.
The Badgers (3-1) cut it to 10 four times and finally trimmed it to single digits on a layup by Jon Leuer with just more than nine minutes to go. But they did not hit another basket for 7:30 in dropping into today’s third-place game against Maryland.
Jordan Taylor led Wisconsin with 19 points, while Leuer added 18.
Boise State 82, at Eastern Washington 69 — Ike Okoye had 21 points, a career-high 17 rebounds and a career-tying six blocks and the Broncos withstood the Eagles’ second-half charge. Robert Arnold added 18 points and Kurt Cunningham and La’Shard Anderson had 10 apiece for the Broncos (3-2).
Brandon Moore had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Eagles (2-3).
Boise State led 44-30 at halftime, but Benny Valentine brought Eastern Washington back, scoring eight straight points in a 2-minute span in which the Eagles pulled within 54-53 with 12:45 left. Boise State responded with nine consecutive points to push the lead back to 63-53 with 9:41 remaining. EWU later got as close as five before the Broncos pulled away.
Northwest women
At Oregon 88, Santa Clara 71 — Amanda Johnson scored a career-high 19 points and had 13 rebounds and Nicole Canepa also had 19 points to lead the Ducks past the Broncos. Oregon (3-0) has scored 80 or more points in three consecutive games for the first time since the 2001-02 season. Micaela Cocks scored 18 points, including three 3-pointers for Oregon.
Meagan Fulps had 16 points to lead the Broncos (1-3). The Ducks, who were up 35-31 at halftime, opened the second half on a 28-9 run.
At Portland 75, Portland State 71 — Portland sophomore forward Alexis Gannis shad 19 points and 10 rebounds for her second career double-double as the Pilots defeated the Vikings in a non-conference crosstown matchup at the Chiles Center. Lauren Angel added 18 points for the Pilots, who are 3-2 after an 0-2 start. Claire Foucher led Portland State (2-2) with 18 points.
