The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Top-seeded Purdue out of Big Ten tourney
Max Klesmit made a runner in the lane with 4.8 seconds to play in overtime and Wisconsin beat Big Ten Tournament top seed Purdue 76-75 on Saturday for a spot in the conference championship game. in Minneapolis.
Klesmit’s clutch shot followed his teammate Chucky Hepburn’s in regulation, when Hepburn made a layup as time expired to force overtime.
Hepburn had 22 points and AJ Storr scored 20 for fifth-seeded Wisconsin (22-12).
Zach Edey led No. 3 Purdue (29-4) with 28 points and 11 rebounds.
Edey surpassed Rick Mount’s school record of 2,323 career points (19671970). He finished the game with 2,339 career points.
The Badgers, who were ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation in late January, lost eight of their last 11 conference games, including a 78-70 defeat at Purdue on March 10. But they’ve put those troubles behind them in Minneapolis, with convincing wins over Maryland and Northwestern before knocking off the Boilermakers.
Purdue was trying to match Michigan State (1999, 2000) as the only Big Ten program to win both the outright regular season title and the conference tournament in consecutive years. NO. 13 ILLINOIS 98, NEBRASKA 87 >> Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 40 points for a Big Ten Tournament record
to lead a second-half surge by the Fighting Ilini in a win over the Cornhuskers in the semifinals.
Marcus Domask added 16 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for Illinois (25-8), which fell behind by 15 points early in the second half before seizing control to move to the conference championship game against Wisconsin today.
Brice Williams had 23 points and Keisei Tominaga added 18 points for Nebraska (23-10), which hit the wall hard down the stretch in its first appearance in the Big Ten semifinals in 13 seasons in the league.
Shannon had 18 points in less than 12 minutes to start the game, went quiet for awhile, and then got going again early in the second half.
Tominaga’s layup stopped a 10-0 run around the 13-minute mark, but Shannon answered with a
3-pointer — the first team All-big Ten pick went 5 for 9 from deep — to bring Illinois back within three points. Tominaga knocked down a 3-pointer to push the lead to 66-60. The Huskers badly needed that, but they couldn’t come up with any more clutch shots.
Luke Goode banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 71-70 lead, putting the Illini in front for the first time since 10-8, and they never let up.
Shannon’s 40 points surpassed the 35 scored by Northwestern’s Michael Thompson in 2011.
FLORIDA 95, TEXAS A&M 90 >>
Denzel Aberdeen scored 20 points to help the Gators rally from an 18-point deficit and beat the Aggies in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.
Sixth-seeded Florida (2410) earned its first trip to the tournament final since 2014. The Gators will play
Auburn for the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth today.
Texas A&M (20-14), the No. 7 seed, led 40-22 with 5:20 left in the half.
Wade Taylor IV paced Texas A&M with a gamehigh 30 points.
NO. 12 AUBURN 73, MISSISSIPPI ST. 66 >> Dylan Cardwell scored his only points on consecutive dunks in the final minutes as the Tigers held off the Bulldogs to reach the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game.
With the SEC’S top three seeds losing their openers Friday for the first time in this tournament since 1983, that left a wide-open path for Auburn (26-7) to win the event for the first time since 2019.
Chad Baker-mazara led the Tigers with 14 points.
Josh Hubbard scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half, trying to rally Mississippi State (21-13).
VERMONT 66, UMASS LOWELL 61 >> Shamir Bogues scored 15 points and the top-seeded Catamounts beat the No. 2-seeded Riverhawks (22-10) to clinch their third straight America East Tournament title.
Vermont (28-6) now has won six of the last eight AEC championships in the one-bid league.
HOWARD 70, DELAWARE ST.67 >> Jordan Hairston scored 18 points and the fourth-seeded Bison (1816) beat the sixth-seeded Hornets (15-18) in the Mideastern Athletic Conference Tournament championship game.