Conference USA

No. 2 Villanova captures Big East tournament

NEW YORK - Josh Hart scored 29 points and No. 2 Villanova beat Creighton 74-60 on Saturday to win the Big East Tournament and probably lock up the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Hart, the conference player of the year, became just the third player to win the tournament MVP award twice, joining Patrick Ewing of Georgetown and Peyton Siva of Louisville.

Villanova (31-3) played Villanova basketball, just as the Wildcats did last season in winning the national title. Good defense, sharing the ball and making 3pointers has led them to four consecutive Big East regular-season titles.

ACC

No. 14 Duke 75, No. 22 Notre Dame

69: Jayson Tatum took over in the final two minutes, making key plays on both ends of the floor, and No. 14 Duke became the first team to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament with four wins in four days.

Big 12

No. 23 Iowa State 80, No. 11 West

Virginia 74: Monte Morris scored 17 points, Deonte Burton and Matt Thomas helped him deal with West Virginia’s attacking defense, and Iowa State won its third Big 12 tourney title in four years.

America East

Vermont 56, Albany 53: Vermont beat Albany to win its sixth America East Conference Tournament.

Big Sky

North Dakota 93, Weber State 89, OT: North Dakota beat Weber State to earn its first NCAA tourney bid.

Middle Tennessee 83, Marshall 72:

Middle Tennessee earned its second straight Conference USA Tournament championship.

Mid-American

Kent State 70, Akron 65: Kent State earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2008.

Mid-Eastern Athletic

North Carolina Central 67, Norfolk

State 59: North Carolina Central got its second NCAA Tournament spot in four years.

Mountain West

Nevada 79, Colorado State 71: Jordan Caroline had 23 points and 10 rebounds as Nevada beat Colorado State to earn its first NCAA Tournament berth in 11 years.

Southwestern Athletic

Texas Southern 53, Alcorn State

50: Kevin Top-seeded Texas Southern beat Alcorn State to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament title.

Other Top 25

No. 8 Kentucky 79, Alabama 74: De’Aaron Fox scored a career-high 28 points to lift Kentucky past Alabama in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

No. 12 SMU 70, UCF 59: Sterling Brown scored 22 points and SMU beat UCF in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. No. 15 Cincinnati 81, Connecticut 71: Gary Clark scored 24 points to lead No. 15 Cincinnati over UConn in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament. No. 24 Wisconsin 76, Northwestern 48: Wisconsin earned a berth in the Big Ten Tournament title game. — Wire services