Azuolas Tubelis scored 30 points and had 11 rebounds as No. 14 Arizona scorched the nets in the second half to defeat pesky Cincinnati 101-93 at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Monday night.

Tubelis made 12 of 18 shots, and frontcourt partner Oumar Ballo also had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds to help Arizona advance to Tuesday night’s semifinal against San Diego State.

The Wildcats (4-0) made their first 12 shots after halftime and shot 79.3 percent (23 of 29) in the second half, when the teams combined for 124 points. The Bearcats (3-2) kept pace with torrid 3-point shooting, led by senior Landers Nolley II, who finished with a career-high 33 points while making 9 of 14 from behind the arc.

Arizona led 40-30 at the break but couldn’t pull away despite its hot shooting. Cincinnati, which made 13 of 19 3-pointers in the second half, climbed within 81-74 on a long ball from Mika Adams-Woods with 5:29 to go.

Ballo answered with a dunk, Courtney Ramey made a driving layup and Arizona’s lead never dipped into single digits after that until there were 13 seconds left.

Ramey, a Texas transfer, scored 12 points in the final five minutes and finished with 17 points in his Arizona debut after missing three games due to an NCAA suspension. Cedric Henderson contributed 14 points, and Kerr Kriisa had 11 points and seven assists. The Wildcats have scored more than 100 points in three of their first four games.

Viktor Lakhin put in 17 points for Cincinnati, which will take on Ohio State in the losers bracket on Tuesday.

Arizona ran into immediate resistance, with Cincinnati blocking three shots in the first two minutes and taking a 13-11 lead on an alley-oop fastbreak dunk by Dan Skillings Jr. But the Wildcats shifted into a higher gear on offense. They were up 26-22 when they went on a 14-2 run, taking their largest lead of the half at 40-24 with 2:59 left.

–Field Level Media

Dawson Garcia hit a jump hook with 6.8 seconds left in overtime Monday night, lifting Minnesota to a 62-61 win over Cal Baptist in the SoCal Challenge tournament in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.

The Golden Gophers (4-1) advanced to Wednesday night’s finals against either Southern Illinois or UNLV, who played later on Monday. The Lancers (3-2) will play the loser of that game for third place.

Garcia, who played just 25 minutes after finding early foul trouble, got the ball in the midpost on the right side, dribbled into the lane and hit a soft shot over two defenders. Cal Baptist had a chance to win, but a 3-pointer by Taran Armstrong bounced off the rim just before time expired.

Freshman Pharrel Payne scored 15 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for Minnesota, dunking with 1:02 left in overtime to pull it within 61-60. Jamison Battle added 11 points in his first game after missing the first four games with a foot injury, and Garcia tallied 10.

Cal Baptist forced overtime when Armstrong drained a 3-pointer with 1:09 left in regulation, capping his 22-point second half. Armstrong scored a game-high 24 points for the Lancers.

Minnesota opened the evening with a 15-0 run, using physical defense that forced nine straight missed shots and five turnovers from Cal Baptist.

The Lancers didn’t score until the 11:16 mark of the half on Hunter Goodrick’s layup, but quickly pulled within 17-11 when Joe Quintana stuck a 3-pointer with 7:58 remaining. They also got the Gophers’ top players, Garcia and Battle, into foul trouble.

Minnesota coach Ben Johnson spent most of the half’s remainder managing pace to minimize the fouls’ effect, and he succeeded. In fact, the Gophers were able to take a 26-18 advantage to the break when Ta’lon Cooper poured in a high-arcing 3-pointer in the final minute.

Cal Baptist made just 7 of 26 shots in the half, including a miserable 4 of 17 from inside the arc.

–Field Level Media

Mason Harrell collected a game-high 21 points, Dylan Dawson buried a key 3-pointer late and Texas State extended California’s season-opening losing streak with a 59-55 nonconference victory Monday night in Berkeley, Calif.

Brandon Davis had 14 points while teammate Tyrel Morgan grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to complement nine points for the Bobcats (3-2), who beat a Pac-12 Conference opponent for the first time in school history.

Devin Askew paced Cal (0-5) with 17 points, including a pair of free throws that got the Golden Bears within 54-53 with 19.7 seconds remaining.

But the Bobcats protected the lead at the free-throw line, with Davis making three of four and Harrell two straight, keeping Cal at arm’s length.

Seeking to avoid tying a 45-year-old school record for longest season-opening losing streak, Cal led by as many as five early in the game, but then went the final 5:06 of the first half without a field goal and the first 5:37 of the second period with just two.

By the time Sam Alajiki hit Cal’s third field goal of the second half at the 14:22 mark, Texas State had already extended its lead to 38-27, completing a 19-5 run that bridged the periods.

The Golden Bears, who led 22-19 before their first-half drought, never led again, but did get within 48-45 with possession of the ball with 4:48 remaining.

But Morgan blocked a Grant Newell layup and Dawson converted it into a 3-pointer at the other end, allowing the visitors to double their advantage.

Harrell hit all seven of his foul shots and Davis six of his eight for Texas State, which had been 0-7 all-time against Pac-12 competition. The visitors outscored Cal 16-10 at the free throw line.

Lars Thiemann put up a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double for Cal, which matched the 0-5 start of its 1977 team.

Cal lost despite outshooting Texas State 41.3 percent to 33.9 percent and outscoring the Bobcats 21-15 on 3-pointers.

–Field Level Media

No. 15 Kentucky will try to get healthy and extend its home winning streak to 23 games on Wednesday night when it faces North Florida in Lexington, Ky.

The Wildcats (3-2) sputtered out of the gate en route to an 88-72 setback to then-No. 2 Gonzaga on Sunday night in Spokane, Wash. That loss was costly for Kentucky, which dropped 11 spots in the latest Top 25 poll.

Reigning NCAA Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe collected 20 points and 15 rebounds to record his second 20/15 game of the season and ninth in two campaigns with Kentucky. He had 22 points and 18 rebounds vs. Michigan State on Nov. 15.

Jacob Toppin tied his career high with 16 points and Cason Wallace added 14 for the Wildcats, who struggled to find their range. Kentucky shot just 39.1 percent from the floor (27 of 69) and misfired on all 10 attempts from 3-point range in the first half to finish at just 24 percent from beyond the arc (6 of 25).

Toppin raised some eyebrows Sunday night, telling reporters that the team had “no fight” during the first half.

When asked how that was possible in a game given such a high-profile matchup, Toppin took a few moments to compose his thoughts before answering.

“I don’t want to speak for any guys. But in some moments, guys can’t step up — me included,” he said. “I didn’t make shots in the first half at all. I didn’t rebound. I’ve got to be better. My teammates have got to be better. We’ve all got to be better.

“So, you can say whatever you want, but at the end of the day, we’re going to put this on ourselves, just to be better. … The main thing is just fighting. Like I said, we didn’t have any fight. So, we’ll figure it out.”

Wildcats coach John Calipari was asked about Toppin’s comment.

“Well, we missed every shot,” Calipari said. “So you can say what you want. We missed every shot. You don’t have to make them all. You just can’t miss them all and expect to be in the game with a good team.”

The Wildcats will try to make some shots against the Ospreys (1-3), who were unable to follow up their lone win of the season in an 83-82 setback to Duquesne on Monday in Pittsburgh.

North Florida made a robust 58 percent of its shots from the floor (29 of 50) and 45.8 percent from 3-point range (11 of 24) against the Dukes. The Ospreys, however, were done in after committing 17 turnovers and allowing 16 offensive rebounds.

Jarius Hicklen highlighted his 24-point performance by sinking four 3-pointers vs. Duquesne.

Carter Hendricksen followed his 17-point performance in North Florida’s 72-66 triumph over South Carolina State on Saturday with 14 vs. the Dukes. The former Lexington Christian Academy standout and Mount Sterling (Ky.) native had eight points in the Ospreys’ 86-52 loss to the Wildcats last Nov. 26.

Tshiebwe collected 12 points and 16 rebounds for Kentucky in last year’s encounter, the first between the schools’ respective basketball programs.

–Field Level Media

Freshmen Chris Bell and Judah Mintz made big shots in the final two minutes of overtime as Syracuse nipped Richmond 74-71 on Monday at the Empire Classic in New York.

Joseph Girard III scored a career-high 31 points to pace the Orange (3-1), who will play St. John’s in Tuesday’s title game after the Red Storm beat Temple 78-72 on Monday. The Spiders (3-2) will oppose Owls in Tuesday’s consolation game.

With the game tied at 68-68 and just under two minutes left in overtime, Bell knocked down a midrange jumper to give Syracuse the lead for good. Mintz then stole the ball on the other end and made a turnaround jumper with 57 seconds left.

Girard converted two free throws with five seconds remaining to ice the game before Jason Nelson drained a meaningless 3-pointer at the final buzzer.

Richmond scored one point in the final six minutes of regulation and then mustered only eight points in overtime, including Nelson’s heave at the horn. The Spiders committed four shot-clock violations during the game’s final 11 minutes and missed 12 of their final 15 shots.

Isaiah Bigelow led Richmond with 17 points, while Nelson contributed 14 and Tyler Burton supplied 13 points and 15 rebounds.

Mintz chipped in 16 points for Syracuse, while Bell had 11 points to complement Girard’s big night.

Syracuse stormed out of the gates, taking a 14-2 lead on Girard’s layup less than five minutes into the game. Girard scored half of his team’s points during that opening surge.

Richmond finally caught up at 25-25, but five straight points by Girard helped the Orange take a 34-29 lead at the break. Girard scored 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting in the opening half.

Two quick 3-pointers by Nelson put Richmond in front early in the second half.

Bigelow’s trey with 17:49 remaining gave the Spiders their largest lead to that point at 40-37, and his 3-pointer with about six minutes left in regulation created Richmond’s first five-point edge, 62-57.

The Orange scored six straight points, capped by Jesse Edwards’ dunk, to go ahead 63-62, before Burton made 1-of-2 free throws to tie it with 52 seconds remaining. Sloppy play down the stretch by both teams sent the game to overtime.

–Field Level Media