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(AP) -- Yancy Gates had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and
Cincinnati made a successful return to the NCAA tournament Thursday
night with a 78-63 win over Missouri.

The sixth-seeded Bearcats used their stalwart defense to hold
the run-all-the-time Tigers to 29 percent shooting in the first
half and 38 percent for the game. Missouri went some 11 minutes
without scoring a field goal to fall behind by 15 early in the
second half and finished well below their average of 81.4 points
per game.

Cincinnati (26-8) will face Connecticut on Saturday in a rare
early round matchup of Big East teams, necessitated by the
conference's record 11 bids to this year's tournament.

Ricardo Ratliffe scored 13 points for the Tigers (23-11).

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