Wildcats outlast Friars
Mikal Bridges scored 25 points and hit 2 three-pointers in overtime to lift Villanova to a 76-66 win over Providence in the Big East tournament championship game Saturday night in New York.
The Wildcats (30-4) won their second straight Big East tournament and third in four years (losing in the 2016 final). They put the bow on a fantastic season that should have them earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Villanova had rolled to a pair of dominant victories in the tourney and held off a pesky Providence team that played its third straight overtime game.
The fifth-seeded Friars (21-13) rallied in the second half from yet another double-digit hole and seemed set to pull off one more upset and earn the automatic NCAA berth. Providence erased a 17-point hole in the second half to beat top-seeded Xavier to reach the final. With one stunning rally on its resume, Providence nearly made it two.
Kyron Cartwright hit a jumper with 1:38 left that tied the game at 58-all and Alpha Diallo scored on a driving layup with 40 seconds left for a 60-58 lead.
Big East player of the year Jalen Brunson tied it for Villanova with two free throws.
Providence missed a last-gasp shot at the buzzer and played in its third straight overtime game.
The Friars ran out of gas in OT. Bridges, who scored 25 points, opened overtime with a 3 and hit another that helped stretch the lead for good. Brunson tied a career-high with 31 points on an emphatic dunk that sent the Madison Square Garden crowd into a frenzy.
Kansas 81, West Virginia 70: Devonte Graham piled up 18 points and 13 assists, Silvio De Sousa came up big in place of Udoka Azubuike and the Jayhawks proved their toughness down the stretch for a victory over the Mountaineers in the Big 12 tournament title game in Kansas City, Mo.
De Sousa had 16 points on 8-of-8 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds, and Malik Newman added 20 points to cap a phenomenal tournament, lifting the Jayhawks (27-7) to their 11th tournament title and a likely No. 1 seed when the NCAA Tournament bracket is revealed Sunday.
Svi Mykhailiuk also had 16 points for the Jayhawks, who scrapped their way through three games in three days without their 7-foot anchor. Azubuike hurt a ligament in his left knee in practice early in the week and spent the weekend on the bench, though he’s expected to return next week.
Buffalo 76, Toledo 66: Wes Clark scored 26 points as the Bulls downed the Rockets in the Mid-American championship game in Cleveland.
The top-seeded Bulls (26-8) were the MAC’s best team all season, and it was no different inside Quicken Loans Arena, where Buffalo won its three games by an average of 14.
Toledo gave Buffalo all it could handle despite playing without star senior guard Tre’Shaun Fletcher, who sat out with a left knee injury suffered in the quarterfinals. Fletcher was the league’s top player this season, and his absence made things even tougher on the second-seeded Rockets (23-11), who couldn’t end their 38-year NCAA drought.
San Diego State 82, New Mexico 75: Troy Kell scored 28 points to lead the Aztecs to a victory over the Lobos in the Mountain West final in Las Vegas.
The Aztecs (22-10), who played in a record 10th Mountain West tournament championship game, were playing in the title game for the fourth time in five seasons and eighth time in 10 years.
Antino Jackson scored 17 points for the Lobos (19-15).
North Carolina Central 71, Hampton 63: Pablo Rivas had 22 points and the Eagles (19-15) downed the Pirates (19-15) in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament championship in Norfolk, Va.
A three-pointer by Kalin Fisher pulled Hampton even at 58-all with 4:24 to play, but the Pirates didn’t score again until Trent-Street’s layup with 18 seconds to go.
Maryland Baltimore County 65, Vermont 62: Jairus Lyles hit a long three-pointer with less than a second left, lifting the Retrievers past the Catamounts in the America East championship game in Burlington, Vt.
UMBC (23-10) had lost 23 straight times to the Catamounts (27-6). STATE
UW-Oshkosh 95, Augustana 88: Ben Boots poured in 36 points as the Titans (24-7) advanced to the Division III Final Four by beating the host Vikings in overtime.