It was what college basketball is all about.

Two powerhouse teams engaged in battle, a crowd on the edge of insanity, and a long-distance, game-winning shot.

Arizona and Cincinnati were the powerhouses, the 11,112 in attendance were deafening, and UA guard Miles Simon provided the heroics.

Simon banked a 70-foot prayer as time expired to give Arizona a 79-76 win over Cincinnati yesterday at the 7-UP ShootOut in Phoenix.

"It is a tough way for anyone to lose," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. "When two teams play so hard and with such determination ... it is unbelievable the way the thing ended."

For Olson, the win marked his 500th victory as a Division I head coach. He joins just 65 other coaches to ever reach the milestone.

Simon's shot ended a furious 20-8 Arizona run over the last six minutes after Cincinnati took a 68-59 lead on a Darnell Burton layup. Sophomore forward Michael Dickerson had eight points in that stretch, and senior center Ben Davis' baseline jumper with 14 seconds left in the game tied the score at 76. Then Davis blocked the ball out of bounds with 3.8 seconds to play setting up Simon's heroics.