Illinois tops OSU for the Big Ten title

Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu both scored 16 points, both grabbed nine rebounds and both made key plays in overtime to give No. 3 Illinois a 91-88 win over No. 9 Ohio State on Sunday for its first Big Ten Tournament title since 2005.

Cockburn made the go-ahead free throw with 1:39 to play, Dosunmu made a 15-footer with 50 seconds to go and the Illini (23-6) sealed it at the free-throw line. Illinois has won seven straight overall, six in a row over top-10 foes and 14 of its last 15 overall to claim the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

At times, Illinois appeared to be in complete control, but Ohio State (21-9) refused to give in to the weariness of playing four games in four days. Instead, the Buckeyes constantly fought back.

And after erasing a 27-10 first-half lead to force overtime and even take an 81-80 lead with 2:49 to play, Illinois finally broke through thanks to Cockburn and Dosunmu.

It was that kind of game.

Duane Washington Jr. had a careerhigh 32 points and Justice Sueing added 22 as the Buckeyes refused to go away. They closed the halftime deficit to 40-35 and got as close as 47-45 early in the second half. When Illinois appeared to take control again with a 10-1 run, making it 57-46, the Buckeyes rallied to take a 67-65 lead with 5:35 left in regulation.

And when the Illini thought they had deterred pesky Ohio State once more, Sueing completed a three-point play with 23.6 seconds left to force overtime.

Alabama adds another SEC title: Skip calling Alabama simply a football school anymore. The Crimson Tide have courted a new moniker they think fits so much better.

Just call them a Championship School. Herbert Jones drove for a go-ahead layup with 19.5 seconds and No. 6 Alabama won the Southeastern Conference Tournament for the first time since 1991, holding off a late flurry to edge LSU 80-79 Sunday. Now they’ve joined Florida (2006-07) as the only SEC schools with both the league football and basketball titles in the same year. Alabama did it by adding two more SEC titles in basketball after Nick Saban’s squad won both the SEC and national championships a couple months ago.

Bonnies capture A-10 championship: Kyle Lofton scored 23 points and Osun Osunniyi scored 14 points with 12 rebounds and St. Bonaventure beat VCU 74-65 on Sunday in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

St. Bonaventure (16-4) entered the A-10 tournament as the conference’s top seed after clinching the regular season crown. The Rams (19-7) were seeded No. 2.

The Bonnie’s Alejandro Vasquez buried a 3-pointer with 11:36 before halftime to break a tie at 12 and St. Bonaventure led the rest of the way.

Houston cruises to AAC crown: Quentin Grimes scored 21 points with five 3-pointers, Marcus Sasser had 16 points and No. 7 Houston beat Cincinnati 91-54 on Sunday in the third consecutive American Athletic Conference tournament championship game between the two.

The Cougars (24-3) were a lock for their 22nd NCAA Tournament berth even before leading the entire game to win their first conference tournament title since 2010, when they were still in Conference USA, and five seasons before Kelvin Sampson became their coach.

Colgate wins Patriot League: Tucker Richardson scored 17 points and Jordan Burns and Jack Ferguson 16 each to lead Colgate to a 85-72 win over Loyola Maryland on Sunday for the Patriot League Tournament championship. Colgate (14-1) advances to its fourth NCAA Tournament where it’s never won.