Villanova beats Creighton; Arizona outlasts Oregon in NCAA
crown for Villanova, the others coming in 1995 and 2015. The defending national champions have won four consecutive Big East regular-season titles.
The top-seeded Wildcats (31-3) forced 17 turnovers that led to 21 points. And with Hart leading the way, they made every big shot they needed.
Jalen Brunson added 17 points for Villanova. Kris Jenkins, whose 3-pointer won the national championship game last year, had 14.
Cole Huff and Marcus Foster each scored 13 points to lead sixth-seeded Creighton (25-9).
No. 7 Arizona 83, No. 5 Oregon 80: Allonzo Trier scored 23 points and hit four free throws in the final 17 seconds, helping Arizona outlast Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game.
Arizona (30-4) lost a lopsided game at Oregon earlier this season on a barrage of 3-pointers by the Ducks. The secondseeded Wildcats were better defensively while building a 14-point lead and shot 58 percent to hold off Oregon’s secondhalf charge.
Next up for Arizona: A possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Top-seeded Oregon (29-5) got bad news before tipoff, learning senior for- ward Chris Boucher is out for the season with a torn ACL sustained in the semifinals against California.
Dillon Brooks carried Oregon through its early struggles and finished with 25 points. Tyler Dorsey added 23.
No. 8 Kentucky 79, Alabama 74: De’Aaron Fox scored a career-high 28 points, including seven straight down the stretch, and Malik Monk added 20 to lift Kentucky past Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.
Bam Adebayo had 10 points and nine rebounds to send top-seeded Kentucky (28-5) to Sunday’s championship game against Arkansas.
Dazon Ingram had 17 points for No. 5 seed Alabama (19-14), which outrebounded Kentucky 33-28 but could not get the basket when needed.
No. 23 Iowa State 80, No. 11 West Virginia 74: Monte Morris scored 17 points while Deonte Burton and Matt Thomas helped him deal with West Virginia’s attacking defense as Iowa State beat the Mountaineers for its third Big 12 Tournament title in four years.
Burton had 16 points and Thomas finished with 12 for the fourth-seeded Cyclones (23-10), who will enter the NCAA Tournament as one of the nation’s hottest teams. They have won nine of their last 10 games, with their only loss during that stretch coming a week ago in Morgantown.
They avenged that defeat in a big way at the Sprint Center.
Iowa State has never lost in four appearances in the Big 12 title game, while the second-seeded Mountaineers (26-8) remain without a conference tournament title of any kind since winning the Big East in 2010.
Jevon Carter had 18 points for West Virginia, which will no doubt rue its 8-for-17 shooting from the foul line.