Santa Barbara pulls away to beat Fullerton
Ajay Mitchell scored 20 points, including 14 in the second half to lead UC Santa Barbara to a 72-62 victory over Cal State Fullerton in the championship of the Big West Conference tournament at Henderson, Nev.
The victory for the Gauchos (27-7) clinched an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The Titans (2013) were seeking their second consecutive trip to the tournament.
Mitchell made eight of 12 shots and also had four rebounds and four assists. Cole Anderson scored 12 points off the bench and helped Santa Barbara start to take control by making three of four three-pointers. Calvin Wishart scored 16 points, including key free throws late to ice it.
Max Jones scored 18 points for Fullerton, but the Titans were cold from outside, making only two of 14 three-pointers (14.3%). Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Tory San Antonio each scored 15.
Hawaii 61, UC Santa Barbara 59:
Lily Wahinekapu and Daejah Phillips each scored 19 points as the Rainbow Wahines (18-14) rallied from a 12-point, fourthquarter deficit to beat the Gauchos (21-12) to win the Big West women’s title.
Top 25 No. 1 Houston 69, Cincinnati 48:
Jamal Shead had 16 points and nine assists as the Cougars (31-2) advanced to their fifth straight American Athletic Conference championship game, even after losing star guard Marcus Sasser to an injury.
No. 7 Texas 76, No. 3 Kansas 56:
Dylan Disu overcame early foul trouble to score 18 points, Marcus Carr and Sir’Jabari Rice had 17 apiece, and the Longhorns (26-8) silenced a heavily pro-Kansas crowd by romping over the Jayhawks (27-7) to win the Big 12 championship.
No. 4 Alabama 72, No. 25 Missouri 61:
Freshman Brandon Miller scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Crimson Tide (28-5) advanced to the Southeastern Conference tournament championship by beating the Tigers (24-9). Alabama will play No. 18 Texas A&M, an 87-75 winner over Vanderbilt, in the final.
No. 5 Purdue 80, Ohio State 66:
Zach Edey had 32 points and 14 rebounds as the Boilermakers (28-5) knocked off the Buckeyes (16-19) in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament. Purdue will play Penn State, which beat No. 19 Indiana 7773, in the final.
No. 6 Marquette 65, No. 15 Xavier 51:
Tyler Kolek had 20 points and eight rebounds as the Golden Eagles (28-6) won the Big East tournament for the first time after beating the Musketeers (25-9).
No. 21 Duke 59, No. 13 Virginia 49:
Jeremy Roach scored 23 points and the Blue Devils (26-8) locked down defensively to beat the Cavaliers (25-7) to win the Atlantic Coast Conference
tournament.
No. 20 San Diego State 62, Utah State 57:
Jaedon LeDee scored 15 points and Matt Bradley had 14 to lift the Aztecs (27-6) over the Aggies (26-8) to win the Mountain West tournament.
Notes
Wichita State fired coach Isaac Brown, one day after the Shockers were bounced from the American Athletic Conference tournament and two years after he was voted the league's coach of the year . ... Rick Stansbury resigned after seven seasons as Western Kentucky’s head coach and cited a need to focus on his health and family. ... Buffalo fired coach Whitesell after his first losing season in four years.