Aztecs rule the Mountain
San Diego State earns its 7th tourney crown
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Jaedon LeDee scored 15 points and Matt Bradley added 14 to lead No. 20 San Diego State to a 62-57 victory over Utah State in Saturday's Mountain West Tournament championship game.
The Aztecs (27-6) claimed their seventh tournament title, and second in three years. This also was their conference-record 15th appearance in the title game.
San Diego State clinched the conference's bid to the NCAA Tournament, though it was never in doubt the Aztecs would be selected. A potential six seed could be coming San Diego State's way, but the Aztecs also might have worked their way into a No. 5.
Utah State (26-8), which defeated New Mexico 91-76 in Thursday's quarterfijnals, has a NET ranking of No. 18, so it would be quite a surprise if the Aggies aren't selected to the NCAA Tournament.
This was the fourth time in the last five years the teams have played each other in the Mountain West championship game. Utah State won the 2019 and 2020 title games, and San Diego State went home with the 2021 trophy.
“I think it's more of a rivalry of respect rather than hatred or animosity,” Utah State guard Steven Ashworth said. “I think that's what happens when you have the two best programs in the league going at it for over five years. We take pride in what we build as an Aggie culture. Obviously, they have a great culture and history here in the Mountain West.”
AAC: In Fort Worth, Jamal Shead had 16 points and nine assists as top-ranked Houston (31-2) advanced to its fifth championship game in a row with a 69-48 win over Cincinnati on Saturday, even after losing star guard Marcus Sasser to an injury. Sasser, the AAC player of the year, went down with an apparent groin injury with about 6½ minutes left in the first half and did not return.
Landers Nolley II had 14 points for Cincinnati (21-12), which shot 25.5% from the field.
Houston will play Memphis (25-8), a 94-54 winner over Tulane, in Sunday's final.
SEC: In Nashville, Tenn., freshman Brandon Miller scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as fourth-ranked Alabama beat No. 25 Missouri 72-61 and advanced to the championship by beating No. 25 Missouri 72-61. Alabama (28-5) will play in its 15th tournament championship against No. 18 Texas A&M, looking for an eighth title to add to its regular-season trophy.
D'Moi Hodge led the 24-9 Tigers with 21 points.
Wade Taylor IV scored 25 points as Texas A&M (25-8) dominated from the opening tip in routing Vanderbilt (20-14), which was clinging to NCAA at-large consideration that probably slipped away.
BIG EAST: In New York, Tyler Kolek and No. 6 Marquette raced out to a hefty lead and never looked back, beating No. 15 Xavier 65-51 to win the league tournament for the first time.
Kolek, the Big East Player of the Year, had 20 points and eight rebounds as the top-seeded Golden Eagles (28-6) dominated a Big East final that brought a Midwestern flavor to Madison Square Garden.
Coach Shaka Smart's surprising team will head into the NCAA Tournament with a nine-game winning streak. Smart, who took VCU to a Final Four but never could find that consistent winning formula at Texas, guided a team picked to finish ninth in the Big East in the preseason coaches' poll to maybe its best season since Dwyane Wade led Marquette to a Final Four in 2003.
Adam Kunkel scored 12 points to lead the Musketeers (25-9).
BIG TEN: In Chicago, Zach Edey had 32 points and 14 rebounds inNo. 5 Purdue's 80-66 win over Ohio State in the semifinals. The Boilermakers (28-5) cruised into the conference final for the second straight year. They will meet Penn State on Sunday.
Jalen Pickett scored 28 points and Seth Lundy had 16 for Penn State (22-12), the 10th seed, which won for the eighth time in nine games. The deep Big Ten run has Penn State in position for its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2011.
Trayce Jackson-Davis had 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for Indiana (22-11),.
BIG 12: In Kansas City, Mo., Dylan Disu overcame early foul trouble to score 18 points, Marcus Carr and New Mexico State transfer Sir'Jabari Rice added 17 apiece, and seventhranked Texas silenced a heavily pro-Kansas crowd with a 76-56 romp over the third-ranked Jayhawks in the tournament title game.
After going more than two decades without a Big 12 tourney championship, the Longhorns (26-8) have won two of the past three.
A10: In New York, Toumani Camara had 28 points and Daron Holmes scored 20 in Dayton's 78-68 win against Fordham in a tournament semifinal.
Holmes had six rebounds and three blocks. Camara added seven rebounds for the Flyers (22-11). Malachi Smith recorded 11 points.
The No. 3-seed Rams (25-8) were led by Khalid Moore, who recorded 24 points and seven rebounds. Will Richardson added 16 points and Rostyslav Novitskyi had 13 points.
Dayton led 36-33 at the half, with Camara scoring 13 points. Dayton's 9-0 run gave the Flyers a 68-58 lead with 3:40 left.
Second-seeded Dayton will play No. 1-seed VCU for the championship on Sunday. Jayden Nunn scored 18 points in 26-7 VCU's 90-78 win over Saint Louis
IVY: In Princeton, N.J., John Poulakidas had 25 points in Yale's 80-60 win against Cornell in a tournament semifinal.
Poulakidas had seven rebounds and five assists for the Bulldogs (217). August Mahoney added 18 points while going 6 of 9 from the floor, including 4 for 6 from distance, and 2 for 3 from the line, and he also had three steals. Bez Mbeng recorded 13 points and shot 6 of 9 from the field.
The Big Red (17-11) were led by Guy Ragland Jr., who posted 12 points and seven rebounds. Chris Manon added 12 points and five steals.
Yale plays host Princeton, a 77-70 winner over Penn, in Sunday's final.
ACC: In Greensboro, N.C., Jeremy Roach scored 23 points and No. 21 Duke locked down defensively to beat No. 13 Virginia 59-49 in the tourney championship, securing a title in Jon Scheyer's debut season as the successor to Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Freshman Mark Filipowski added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Blue Devils (26-8), who completed a final-month surge to the top of the ACC to claim a leaguerecord 22nd championship. It also marked the ninth straight win for Duke.
This time, Duke grinded their way through to the horn by leaning on a defense-first approach that Scheyer has pushed all season. The Blue Devils held the second-seeded Cavaliers (25-7) to 33% shooting, with Virginia missing both contested and clean looks while committing nearly as many turnovers (12) as made shots (16).
ONE BID WON/LOST: In Norfolk, Va., Jelani Williams scored 20 points including two free throws with 6.1 seconds left to lead Howard (22-12) to a 65-64 win over Norfolk State (22-11) in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament championship game and the Bison's first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 31 years. Dana Tate scored 15 of his 19 points in the first half for Norfolk State, whose 72-65 overtime win over North Carolina Central in the semifinals ended at 11:30 ET Friday night. Less than 14 hours later they were back on the floor.
■ In Atlantic City, N.J., Daniss Jenkins scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half and Walter Clayton Jr. scored 17 points as Iona beat Marist 76-55 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament championship game. Coach Rick Pitino's Gaels (27-7) entered as the conference's top seed while Marist (13-20) was the 11th and final seed. Iona entered with a 13-game winning streak where the average margin of victory was 16.3 points per contest.
■ In Burlington, Vt., Dylan Penn scored 21 points, Matt Veretto scored 15 and ignited a game-breaking run, leading Vermont to a 72-59 victory over UMass Lowell (26-8) in the America East championship game. Vermont (23-10) will be making its ninth NCAA appearance. UMass Lowell, in its sixth year of eligibility, finished as the runner-up for the second time in three years.
■ In Birmingham, Ala., BIPJ Henry scored 19 points and Texas Southern (14-20) denied Grambling its first NCAA Tournament berth with a 61-58 win in the league's championship game.
Reserve Zahad Munford scored 12 points for Grambling (24-9), which set a season program record in wins and entered with an 11-game win streak.
■ In Cleveland, Sincere Carry scored 26 points and Malique Jacobs added 18 as second-seeded Kent State (28-6) won the MAC championship 93-78 over top-seeded Toledo (27-7), which had its winning streak stopped at 17 and will likely miss the NCAA Tournament for the 43rd straight year. The top-seeded Rockets (27-7) have to hope the NCAA selection committee looks at their entire body of work. However, history won't be on their side as the MAC hasn't had two teams in the 68-team field since 1999.
■ In Frisco, Texas, Alijah Martin scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Florida Atlantic (31-3) took control early and beat UAB 78-56 in the Conference USA Tournament championship game to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Jordan Walker scored 18 points for UAB (25-9).
■ In Henderson, Nev., Ajay Mitchell scored 12 of his team-high 20 points during a four-minute span to help UC Santa Barbara pull away from Cal State Fullerton and claim a 72-62 win in the Big West Conference championship game. The Gauchos (27-7) claim the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years. Max Jones led the Titans (20-13) with 18 points and grabbed six boards.
Notes
WESTERN KENTUCKY: Rick Stansbury has resigned after seven seasons as Western Kentucky's head coach and cited a need to focus on his health and family.
Stansbury missed nine games at midseason with an undisclosed health issue. He was 139-89 with the Hilltoppers, with three Conference USA championship-game appearances and one East Division title. But they failed to reach the NCAA Tournament during his tenure and lost to Florida Atlantic 75-51 in this week's C-USA quarterfinals to finish 17-16 overall after going 8-12 in league play. The coach said Saturday that he reached the decision to step down after much thought and he felt good about what the program achieved.
Stansbury added, “This past season has been a challenging one, and I need some time to step away from things and focus on my health and my family.'