Roundup of Friday’s conference tournament action
NEW YORK — Kyle Guy scored 15 points and No. 1 Virginia advanced to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game with a 64-58 victory over No. 19 Clemson on Friday night.
The top-seeded Cavaliers (302) got several crucial plays from role player Jack Salt down the stretch and will face fifth-ranked and second-seeded Duke or 12thranked and sixth-seeded North Carolina for the tournament title Saturday night in Brooklyn.
Virginia’s only ACC Tournament crowns came in 1976 and 2014.
Shelton Mitchell had 18 points and Elijah Thomas added 15 for the fourth-seeded Tigers (23-9), who remain the lone original member of the ACC that hasn’t won the conference tournament. Clemson was trying to reach the finals for only the third time.
Tigers leading scorer Marcquise Reed, who was averaging better than 16 points, was held to six on 2-for-14 shooting by the nation’s most suffocating defense. He missed nine of 10 tries from 3-point range.
No. 2 VILLANOVA 87, BUTLER 68
NEW YORK — Mikal Bridges had 18 points and Villanova scored the first 19 points and cruised toward its fourth straight trip in the Big East Tournament championship game in a win over Butler.
About 30 minutes after topseeded Xavier was upset by Providence in overtime, the Wildcats (29-4) hit the court and showed how a favorite should play in a tournament semifinal.
The Wildcats scored five seconds into the game and used near-perfect execution on a 16-0 run before Butler coach LaVall Jordan finally called a timeout at the 15:37 mark. He could have waved a white flag to signal for the TO.
Omari Spellman buried a 3 to make it 19-0 and the Wildcats proved why the Big East tournament title always goes through the Main Line and straight to MSG. Butler finally scored and heard some mock cheers for the jumper.
Hey, at least the Bulldogs (2013) were only down 17.
PROVIDENCE 75, No. 3 XAVIER 72, OT
NEW YORK — Alpha Diallo hit a go-ahead jumper with 2:22 left in overtime and fifth-seeded Providence rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit and stunned topseeded Xavierin the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.
Kyron Cartwright hit a clutch jumper with 55 seconds to go and took an offensive foul on a layup attempt by J.P. Macura with eight seconds to play as the Friars (21-12) beat the Musketeers (28-5) for the second time in three games this season.
This one was totally unexpected after the opening 25 minutes at Madison Square Garden. The win sent Providence in the title game against the winner of the second semifinal between second-seeded and No. 2 Villanova and sixthseeded Butler.
NO. 12 NORTH CAROLINA 74, No. 5 DUKE 69
NEW YORK — Luke Maye scored 17 points, including North Carolina’s last field goal with 5:33 remaining, and North Carolina held off a late rally by Duke to advance to the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship game.
The sixth-seeded Tar Heels (25-9) will face top-seeded and top-ranked Virginia on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in a rematch of the 2016 ACC championship, won by North Carolina.
North Carolina led by 15 when Maye hit a jumper with 5:33 left and it looked as if it would cruise into the title game. But the Tar Heels went cold and second-seeded Duke went on a 13-0 run, drawing within three on Gray Trent Jr.’s 3 with 50 seconds left.
The Tar Heels turned the ball over on consecutive possessions, but an offensive foul by Grayson Allen and then a missed 3 by Allen, trying to draw contact on Maye, stymied Duke (26-7).
Theo Pinson made two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to seal it and the Tar Heels snapped a six-game losing streak in the ACC Tournament to their most heated Tobacco Road rivals.
No. 8 CINCINNATI 61, SMU 51
ORLANDO, Fla. — Kyle Washington scored 15 points and Gary Clark added 12 points and 11 rebounds Friday to help Cincinnati beat SMU in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Bearcats also got 13 points from Cane Broome and rallied from a six-point second-half deficit to move on to the semifinals against the winner of the TulsaMemphis game.
Jahmal McMurray led SMU with 17 points and Ben Emelogu had 11 points and seven rebounds. The Mustangs got eight points and six rebounds from their best big man, Akoy Agau. But Agau reinjured a severely sprained ankle on the first possession of the game and wasn’t much of a factor in his 24 minutes.
No. 9 KANSAS 83, KANSAS STATE 67
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Malik Newman poured in 22 points, Silvio De Sousa filled in admirably for ailing big man Udoka Azubuike and Kansas beat short-handed Kansas State to reach the Big 12 Tournament title game.
Devonte Graham added 15 points and Svi Mykhailiuk had 12 for the top-seeded Jayhawks (26-7), who will play No. 14 Texas Tech or No. 18 West Virginia for the championship on Saturday night.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats (23-10) learned Friday morning they’d be without All-Big 12 forward Dean Wade, who hurt his foot in their quarterfinal win over TCU. Then they lost starting guard Barry Brown early against the Jayhawks when he was accidentally poked in the eye.
They still put up a fight, thanks primarily to Makol Mawien, the unheralded forward who scored a career-high 29 points.
No. 11 WICHITA STATE 89, TEMPLE 81
ORLANDO, Fla. — Landry Shamet scored 24 points, Rashard Kelly had 16 and Wichita State beat Temple in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament.
The Shockers (25-6) also got a strong performance from their reserves, including 13 points from Austin Reaves. Next up is the winner of the Houston-Central Florida game.
Quinton Rose led Temple (1714) with 25 points. Shizz Alston and Josh Brown each had 15 points for the Owls, who didn’t have enough depth to keep pace with Wichita State in the final minutes.
No. 13 TENNESSEE 62, MISSISSIPPI STATE 59
ST. LOUIS — Lamonte turner scored 15 points and Tennessee locked down on defense to beat Mississippi State in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament.