Cincinnati holds off Houston for AAC crown

Gary Clark put Cincinnati ahead for good with a free throw with 4.3 seconds remaining and the eighthranked Bearcats held on for a 56-55 win over No. 21 Houston in the American Athletic Conference championship on Sunday in Orlando, Fla.

Clark finished with 20 points and the league regular-season champions rescued themselves for the second straight day with a stellar second-half performance, limiting Houston to 20 percent shooting and 18 points after halftime.

Cincinnati (30-4) earned the AAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament with its first conference tournament championship since the Bearcats won Conference USA in 2004.

Houston (26-7), which split a pair of games against Cincinnati during the regular season, lost for just the third time in its last 15 games and is headed to the NCAA Tournament, too.

Rob Gray led the Cougars with 17 points but missed a long 3-pointer in the closing seconds, then had a turnover that cost Houston a chance to try to win the game after Clark made one of two free throws after rebounding Gray's miss.

IVY LEAGUE

PENN 68, HARVARD 65: At Philadelphia, Darnell Foreman scored 19 points, AJ Brodeur had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Penn earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2007.

Ryan Betley added 17 points for the Quakers (24-8), who will be making their 24th appearance in the NCAAs.

Chris Lewis led Harvard (18-13) with 16 points, while Bassey had 15 and Seth Towns, the league's player of the year, finished with 13.

ATLANTIC 10

DAVIDSON 58, NO. 25 RHODE ISLAND 57: At Washington, still looking for its first victory in the NCAA Tournament since a guy by the name of Stephen Curry led the way, Davidson is goin’ dancin’ as the Atlantic 10 champion behind Kellan Grady’s 17 points.

Davidson won despite going nearly 13 minutes in the second half without making a field goal, a 0for-11 drought that somehow did not prevent it from celebrating at game’s end. The Wildcats haven’t been to the NCAAs since 2015 — and haven’t won a March Madness game since the Curry-led 2008 squad pulled off victories over Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin before bowing out against Kansas in the Elite Eight.

SEC

KENTUCKY 77, NO. 13 TENNESEE 72: At St. Louis, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points to lead Kentucky to its fourth straight Southeastern Conference Tournament championship .

The championship is the 31st in tournament history for the fourth-seeded Wildcats (24-10), who have won seven of their past eight games since a four-game losing streak last month.