Villanova takes home Big East tourney title

Josh Hart scored 29 points and No. 2 Villanova beat Creighton 74-60 on Saturday in New York 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 championship. Good defense, sharing the ball and making 3-pointers is the formula that has led them to four consecutive Big East regular-season titles.

This was their third Big East Tournament crown, the others coming in 1995 and 2015. NO. 8 KENTUCKY 79, ALABAMA 74 » At Nashville, Tennessee, De’Aaron Fox scored a career-high 28 points, including seven straight down the stretch, and Malik Monk added 20 to lift Kentucky past Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals. NO. 23 IOWA STATE 80, NO. 11 WEST VIRGINIA 74 » At Kansas City, Missouri, Monte Morris scored 17 points, Deonte Burton and Matt Thomas helped him deal with West Virginia’s attacking defense, and Iowa State beat the Mountaineers for the Cyclones’ third Big 12 Tournament title in four years.

Burton had 16 points and Thomas finished with 12 for the fourth-seeded Cyclones (23-10), who will enter the NCAA Tournament as one of the nation’s hottest teams. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games, with their only loss during that stretch coming a week ago in Morgantown. NO. 24 WISCONSIN 76, NORTHWESTERN 48 » At Washington, Wisconsin revved up the defense against weary Northwestern and got the desired result, a victory that earned the Badgers a berth in the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the third time in five years.

Nigel Hayes scored 18 points and Ethan Happ added 16 for the secondseeded Badgers.