Kansas rules Big XII, likely earns 1-seed
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Devonte Graham ripped off the shooting sleeve he was wearing and tossed it into the crowd, then took the two-time Big 12 defensive player of the year baseline for a pullup jumper. Talk about unflappable. Unstoppable, too. The league’s player of the year finished with 18 points and 13 assists, most of them during the decisive second half, and Graham led ninth-ranked Kansas to an 81-70 victory over Jevon Carter and No. 18 West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament championship game Saturday night.
Malik Newman added 20 points on his way to tournament MVP, and freshman Silvio De Sousa had 16 points on 8-for-8 shooting in place of injured big man Udoka Azubuike, lifting the Jayhawks (27-7) to their 11th tournament title and a likely No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
ARIZONA 75, USC 61: Deandre Ayton had 32 points and 18 rebounds in one of the most dominating performances in Pac-12 Tournament history, leading No. 15 Arizona to its second straight title in Las Vegas.
Ayton put on a show along The Strip, bouncing back from a nervous Pac-12 opener with two dominating games. The Bahamian big man had 32 points and 14 rebounds in a semifinal win over UCLA and knocked the Trojans (23-11) around like bowling pins in the championship game. Ayton made 14 of 20 shots from the floor and all four of his free throws to lead Arizona (27-8) to its ninth Pac-12 title.
KENTUCKY 86, ALABAMA 63: Wenyen Gabriel shot 7-for-7 on 3s and matched his career high with 23 points, sending Kentucky past Collin Sexton and Alabama in the SEC Tournament semifinals. Kentucky shot 64 percent from the field, up from its 42.6 percent clip against Georgia on Friday and its season average of 46.5.
TENNESSEE 84, ARKANSAS 66: Jordan Bone scored 19 points to help spark a hot-shooting first half for No. 13 Tennessee in a win over Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals in St. Louis. The win is the sixth straight and 13th in the last 15 games for the second-seeded Volunteers (25-7), who will try to win their first SEC Tournament championship in almost 40 years when they face Kentucky on Sunday.
CINCINNATI 70, MEMPHIS 60: Jarron Cumberland scored 18 points and Gary Clark had 17 points and 12 rebounds to rally No. 8 Cincinnati to a victory over Memphis in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament in Orlando. Cininnati faces Houston in Sunday’s final.
RHODE ISLAND 90, ST. JOSEPH’S 87: Andre Berry scored 18 points, Fatts Russell made two crucial 3-pointers in the final six minutes and Danny Hurley’s No. 25 Rhode Island rallied past Saint Joseph’s in Washington in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament semifinals.
PENN 80, YALE 57: AJ Brodeur scored 25 points, on 10-of-13 shooting, and grabbed 10 rebounds and Pennsylvania never trailed in its win over Yale on in the Ivy League Tournament at the Palestra. The secondseeded Quakers will play No. 1 seed Harvard in the championship game on Sunday. Penn (23-8) split the regular-season series with the Crimson with each team winning on its home court.
HARVARD 74, CORNELL 55: Seth Towns and Chris Lewis each had a doubledouble to help Harvard beat Cornell in the Ivy League Tournament.
BUFFALO 76, TOLEDO 66: Wes Clark scored 26 points, Nick Perkins added 16, including a big 3-pointer, and Buffalo won its third Mid-American Conference championship — and the league’s automatic NCAA bid — in four years.
MARSHALL 67, W. KENTUCKY 66: Jon Elmore scored 20 of his 27 points after halftime, including 11 in a row in a span of just over two minutes, and Marshall is going to its first NCAA Tournament since 1987 after winning the Conference USA championship.
UMBC 65, VERMONT 62: Jairus Lyles hit a long 3-pointer with less than a second left, lifting Maryland Baltimore County over top-seeded Vermont in the America East championship game.
SAN DIEGO ST. 82, NEW MEXICO 75: Troy Kell scored 28 points to lead San Diego State over New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference tournament championship.
N.C. CENTRAL 71, HAMPTON 63: Pablo Rivas had 22 points and North Carolina Central scored 11 in a row to break a 58-all tie and beat Hampton in the MidEastern Athletic Conference Tournament championship.
TEXAS SOUTHERN 84, ARKANSAS PINE-BLUFF 69: Trayvon Reed had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Demontrae Jefferson added 15 points and Texas Southern (15-19) defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the SWAC championship game in Houston.
NEW MEXICO ST. 72, GRAND CANYON 58: Zach Lofton scored 21 points, AJ Harris had 20, and Jemerrio Jones added 15 points and 18 rebounds to help New Mexico State win its fifth straight WAC Tournament championship.
MONTANA 82, E. WASHINGTON 65: Three straight nights, three consecutive comebacks and the Montana Grizzlies are Big Sky Conference champions and heading to the NCAA Tournament. Michael Oguine scored 21 points for top-seeded Montana.
GEORGIA’S FOX FIRED: Georgia coach Mark Fox was fired on Saturday following a disappointing regular season and a loss to Kentucky in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. —AP