No. 1 Duke clinches 23rd ACC title with 73-62 win over No. 13 Louisville

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Tyrese Proctor scored 19 points on six 3-pointers, Kon Knueppel added 18 points and No. 1 Duke defeated 13th-ranked Louisville 73-62 on Saturday night to clinch its second Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in three seasons under Jon Scheyer.

It was Duke’s 23rd ACC title overall — the most of any team in conference history — and five more than rival North Carolina, who the Blue Devils knocked off 74-71 in a semifinal thriller.

Sion James added 15 points for Duke (31-3), which played its final two tournament games without ACC player of the year Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown due to injuries.

Terrence Edwards Jr. scored 29 points on five 3s for Louisville (27-7), which was playing in its first ACC final since joining the league in 2014. The Cardinals went 18-2 in the conference play during the regular season under first-year head coach Pat Kelsey after going 5-37 vs. ACC foes in the previous two seasons.

There were nine lead changes and neither team led by more than five before Duke broke the game open with a 12-0 run midway through the second half behind a 3 from Proctor in transition to build a 57-47 lead.

NO. 2 HOUSTON 72, ARIZONA 64

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Milos Uzan poured in 25 points, Emanuel Sharpe added 17 and second-ranked Houston turned up its trademark defense in the final minute to hold on for a victory over Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament championship game.

Playing without injured big man J’Wan Roberts, the Cougars (30-4) took a 64-62 lead on Uzan’s 3-pointer with 5 minutes to go, then suffocated the Wildcats (22-12) down the stretch to avenge a loss to Iowa State in last year’s title game.

Houston romped to the regular-season Big 12 title, winning 19 of 20 games in the expanded league. And it was just as dominant in three game in Kansas City, easily beating Colorado and No. 17 BYU before turning back red-hot Arizona for the trophy.

Caleb Love scored 19 points for the Wildcats. Jaden Bradley had 14 points and KJ Lewis finished with 11.

NO. 8 TENNESSEE 70, NO. 3 AUBURN 65

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Zakai Zeigler scored 20 points as No. 8 Tennessee held off regular-season champion and third-ranked Auburn to reach the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship for the first time since 2022.

The fourth-seeded Volunteers (27-6) got revenge both for their Jan. 25 loss at Auburn and their 2019 loss to the Tigers in this tournament’s title game.

Tennessee will play fourth-ranked Florida on Sunday for the tournament title. The Vols and the winner of that semifinal likely wind up with No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament — only fitting for the nation’s best league.

Jordan Gainey added 15 points for the Vols, and Chaz Lanier had 12.

The Tigers (28-5) go home losers of three of their last four games.

SEC player of the year Johni Broome led Auburn with 23 points, Miles Kelly added 13 and Denver Jones had 10.

Auburn led 33-32 at halftime thanks to a late 10-0 spurt. The Tigers last led at 48-47.

NO. 4 FLORIDA 104, NO. 5 ALABAMA 82

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 22 points, and No. 4 Florida pulled away from No. 5 Alabama for a victory in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.

Alijah Martin and Will Richard each had 16 points for the Gators (29-4) in their fifth consecutive win.

Next up for Florida is Sunday’s SEC championship game against No. 8 Tennessee, which beat No. 3 Auburn 70-65 in the first semifinal.

The second-seeded Gators led the Crimson Tide 47-45 after a first half that featured 10 lead changes. But Clayton and company really turned up their play down the stretch.

Chris Youngblood had 14 points for third-seeded Alabama (25-8). Clifford Omoruyi and Mouhamed Dioubate each had 12.

Clayton went 6 for 11 from 3-point range. The senior guard added six assists.

NO. 6 ST. JOHN’S 82, CREIGHTON 66

NEW YORK (AP) — RJ Luis Jr. scored all but two of his 29 points after halftime and No. 6 St. John’s made 14 straight shots from the field in the second half to beat Creighton for its first Big East Tournament title in 25 years.

Zuby Ejiofor added 20 points and Kadary Richmond had 12 points and 12 rebounds for the top-seeded Red Storm (30-4), who reached 30 wins for the third time in program history before a roaring hometown crowd at sold-out Madison Square Garden.

They earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for their first trip since 2019, making 72-year-old Hall of Famer Rick Pitino the first coach to take six schools to the Big Dance.

The others were Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona.

Pitino, in his second season at St. John’s, also became the first coach to win the Big East Tournament at two schools. He’s won three times in his last four seasons in the league, after guiding Louisville to championships in 2009, 2012 and 2013.

Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 15 for second-seeded Creighton (24-10), which fell to 0-5 in Big East championship games since joining the conference for the 2013-14 season.

NO. 18 WISCONSIN 77, NO. 7 MICHIGAN STATE 74

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — John Tonje scored 32 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help No. 18 Wisconsin beat No. 7 Michigan State in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

John Blackwell added 14 points as the Badgers (26-8) won for the third time in four days. They will play No. 22 Michigan for the tournament title on Sunday.

Jase Richardson had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Spartans (27-6). Jeremy Fears Jr. had 14 points and six assists, but he had the ball knocked away in the waning seconds as he tried to tie the score with a heave from near the midcourt logo.

Michigan State, the league’s regular-season champs, had won eight in a row.

Wisconsin erased a 45-41 deficit with an 11-0 run in the second half. The Badgers were pushed to the very end, but they used four straight points to make it 72-67 with 1:10 to play.

NO. 22 MICHIGAN 81, NO. 11 MARYLAND 80

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tre Donaldson drove the length of the court and scored on a layup with 0.4 seconds left to give No. 22 Michigan a victory over No. 11 Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.

Donaldson finished with 12 points and nine assists, but the heavy lifting was done by Vladislav Goldin, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Danny Wolf Jr. with 21 points and 14 rebounds.

The Wolverines (24-9) will face No. 18 Wisconsin in Sunday’s championship game in Indianapolis.

Donaldson’s remarkable drive rekindled images of Tyus Edney in 1995 and Danny Ainge in 1981, who made similar plays to add their stories to the March Madness book. This time, Maryland tried to preserve the lead without fouling.

Derik Queen finished with a career high 31 points to lead the Terrapins (25-8) who entered the game on a nine-game winning streak. Selton Miguel added 16 points. Maryland has never reached the tourney’s title game.

NO. 16 MEMPHIS 78, TULANE 77

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — PJ Haggerty made eight free throws and forced a huge turnover in the final 40 seconds as 16th-ranked Memphis beat Tulane to advance to the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.

Haggerty, the AAC player of the year, put the Tigers (28-5) ahead to stay with two free throws that made it 72-71 with 40 seconds left. He finished with 18 points, going 14 for 14 at the line and 2 of 13 from the field a day after his 42 points matched an AAC tourney record.

Dain Dainja had 23 points and 11 rebounds for Memphis, and Moussa Cisse had 10 points and 11 boards.

Rowan Brumbaugh had 22 points for Tulane (19-14), which had five players score in double figures.