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Arizona holds off 19-point comeback, beats No. 16 Cincinnati 72-67

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Arizona holds off 19-point comeback, beats No. 16 Cincinnati 72-67
Sport

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Arizona holds off 19-point comeback, beats No. 16 Cincinnati 72-67

2025-01-05 08:20 Last Updated At:08:30

CINCINNATI (AP) — Jaden Bradley had 15 points, including two free throws that helped Arizona clinch a 72-67 win over No. 16 Cincinnati on Saturday.

Carter Bryant added 14 points and Caleb Love scored 12 as Arizona (8-5, 2-0 Big 12) won it’s second straight game.

Cincinnati (10-3, 0-2) lost for the second straight game. Dan Skillings Jr. scored 18 points and had two steals.

The Bearcats were down 19 points with just over 17 minutes remaining. They tied it at 64 with 58 seconds left on Skillings' layup. That was as close as they'd get to a comeback win.

Dillon Mitchell added 13 points for the Bearcats.

Arizona averaged about 97 points in its seven wins coming into this game, including three games over 100. It averaged 70 in its five losses. The 72 points are the Wildcats' third-lowest point total of the season.

Cincinnati started the season 6-0, but has dropped three of its last seven games.

Love stole a pass from Jizzle James with under 10 seconds to go in the first half and was fouled by Skillings with less than a second remaining. He made one of two at the free-throw line to give the Wildcats a 39-26 halftime lead.

Cincinnati has committed 39 turnovers in its three losses.

Both teams play Tuesday night: Arizona visits West Virginia and Cincinnati visits No. 25 Baylor.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Arizona forward Henri Veesaar (13) dunks over Cincinnati forward Tyler Betsey (14) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Arizona forward Henri Veesaar (13) dunks over Cincinnati forward Tyler Betsey (14) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday moved to indefinitely postpone this week’s sentencing in his hush money case as he appeals a ruling that upheld the verdict and put him on course to be the first president to take office convicted of crimes.

Trump’s lawyers say the case should be halted automatically while they ask a New York appeals court to reverse Judge Juan M. Merchan's decision last week, which set the case for sentencing on Friday — little more than a week before his inauguration.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office disagreed and urged Merchan to proceed as scheduled, “given the strong public interest in prompt prosecution and the finality of criminal proceedings.”

Prosecutors blamed Trump for pushing his sentencing to the brink of his second term by repeatedly seeking to postpone his sentencing, originally scheduled for July.

“He should not now be heard to complain of harm from delays he caused," they wrote in a court filing Monday afternoon.

Merchan last Friday rejected Trump’s bid to throw out the verdict because of his impending return to the White House but signaled that he is not likely to sentence the Republican to any punishment for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

If sentencing proceeds as scheduled, Trump's lawyers have told Merchan that he will appear by video rather than attending in person at a Manhattan courthouse. The judge had given him the option, acceding to the demands of the presidential transition process.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after Merchan ruled that it “would be the end of the Presidency as we know it” if it is allowed to stand.

Trump’s lawyers, who are also challenging Merchan’s prior refusal to dismiss the case on presidential immunity grounds, filed their appeal Monday afternoon with the appellate division of the state’s trial court. Court papers were not immediately available. No arguments have been scheduled.

In a separate filing with Merchan, Trump's lawyers argued that the appeal should cause an automatic stay, or pause, of proceedings. If it doesn't, they said, the judge should step in and halt sentencing. They asked him to disclose his decision promptly “to allow sufficient time for President Trump to seek an emergency appellate review.”

“Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed.”

Any delay in sentencing could run out the clock on closing the case before Trump’s second term begins Jan. 20.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal advice and guidance to federal agencies, has maintained that a sitting president is immune from criminal proceedings. If sentencing doesn't happen before Trump is sworn in, waiting until he leaves office in 2029 “may become the only viable option,” Merchan said in his ruling.

If sentencing proceeds on Friday as scheduled, Trump’s lawyers argued, he will be appealing the verdict while in office and will be “forced to deal with criminal proceedings for years to come.” They raised an improbable scenario in which, if Trump wins his appeal, he could be then subjected to another criminal trial while in office.

In upholding the verdict and rejecting Trump's bids for dismissal, Merchan wrote that the interests of justice would only be served by “bringing finality to this matter” through sentencing. He said sentencing Trump what’s known as an unconditional discharge — closing the case without jail time, a fine or probation — “appears to be the most viable solution.”

Trump's lawyers were unmoved, arguing that the “meritless case” was fostered by "numerous legal errors," including rulings by Merchan they say flew in the face of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last July that granted presidents broad immunity from prosecution.

“The Court’s non-binding preview of its current thinking regarding a hypothetical sentencing does not mitigate these bedrock federal constitutional violations,” defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote.

Trump has selected both of them for high-ranking Justice Department positions.

Whenever he is sentenced, Trump will have an opportunity to speak, as will his lawyers and prosecutors. He can only appeal the verdict after he is sentenced.

The charges involved an alleged scheme to hide a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in the last weeks of Trump’s 2016 campaign to keep her from publicizing claims she’d had sex with him years earlier. He says that her story is false and that he did nothing wrong.

The case centered on how Trump accounted for reimbursing his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who had made the payment to Daniels. The conviction carried the possibility of punishment ranging from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.

Cohen, a key prosecution witness who had previously called for Trump to be put in prison, said that “based upon all of the intervening circumstances” Merchan’s decision to sentence Trump without punishment “is both judicious and appropriate.”

Trump’s sentencing initially was set for last July 11, then postponed twice at the defense’s request. After Trump’s Nov. 5 election, Merchan delayed the sentencing again so the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case.

FILE - Former President Donald Trump waits for the start of proceedings in Manhattan criminal court, April 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool, File)

FILE - Former President Donald Trump waits for the start of proceedings in Manhattan criminal court, April 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool, File)

FILE - Judge Juan M. Merchan sits for a portrait in his chambers in New York, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - Judge Juan M. Merchan sits for a portrait in his chambers in New York, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

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