Auburn avoids SEC upset bug, earns NCAA bid
Johni Broome scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as No. 12 Auburn won the Tigers’ third Southeastern Conference tournament championship by beating Florida 86-67 on Sunday in a game marred by a gruesome injury to Gators center Micah Handlogten.
The Tigers (27-7) avoided the upset bug that took out the SEC’s top three seeds in Friday’s quarterfinals, leaving them as the highest seed still standing. They never trailed in the final, adding titles to those won in 1985 and 2019 and earning a second under coach Bruce Pearl.
Denver Jones scored 11 points for Auburn. Chad Baker-Mazara added 10 before going to the bench along with Broome and getting a standing ovation with two minutes left.
The sixth-seeded Florida Gators (24-11) were playing their fourth game in as many days and trying to win the program’s fifth SEC Tournament title and first since 2014. But they lost Handlogten, who was taken off the court on a stretcher after suffering a broken left leg within the first three minutes.
In other men’s f inals
8 Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 34 points on 15-for-17 shooting from the freethrow line, helping No. 13 Illinois past Wisconsin 93-87 in the Big Ten final in Minneapolis.
8 Duquesne earned an NCAA tournament bid for the first time in 47 years, beating fifth-seeded seeded Virginia Commonwealth 5751 in the Atlantic 10 final.
8 Alejandro Vasquez scored 29 points to spark Albama Birmingham to a 8569 win over Temple in the American Athletic Conference final in Fort Worth, Texas.
8 Matt Knowling hit a jumper at the buzzer and Yale closed the game on an 8-1 run to beat Brown 62-61 in the Ivy League final.
8 N’Faly Dante, playing with a bruised tailbone, made all 12 of his shots and scored 25 points, and Oregon beat Colorado 75-68 Saturday in the conference tournament title game to end the Pac-12 basketball era. By winning the conference tournament, fourthseeded Oregon (23-11) extended its postseason because the Ducks weren’t projected to receive an atlarge bid to the 68-team field.
8 Tyon Grant-Foster scored 22 points, Ray Harrison added 15 of his 19 in the second half and top-seeded Grand Canyon beat Texas Arlington 89-74 to win the Western Athletic Conference final.
8 Don McHenry scored 25 points on nine-of-16 shooting with four steals to help Western Kentucky beat Texas El Paso 78-71 in Huntsville, Ala., and win the Conference USA final for the first time in program history.
8 Jourdan Smith scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half and Grambling won its first Southwestern Athletic Conference final with a 75-66 victory over Texas Southern in Birmingham, Ala.
8 DJ Horne scored 29 points, forward DJ Burns Jr. had 20 and North Carolina State upset fourth-ranked North Carolina 84-76 in the Atlantic Coast Conference final in Washington.
8 Donovan Clingan scored 22 points and Jaylin Stewart gave No. 2 UConn an unexpected boost with three second-half threepointers as the top-seeded Huskies beat No. 10 Marquette 73-57 in New York to win the Big East for the first time since rejoining the league four years ago.
8 Keshon Gilbert closed a spectacular Big 12 tournament for Iowa State with 16 points, propelling the No. 7 Cyclones to a stunning 69-41 win against No. 1 Houston in Kansas City, Mo.
8 In Las Vegas, Jaelen House had 28 points to propel sixth-seeded New Mexico to a 68-61 victory over No. 5 seed San Diego State to win the Mountain West.
8 Corey Washington scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half to rally Saint Peter’s to a 68-63 win over Fairfield in the final of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in Atlantic City.
8 In Cleveland, Greg Tribble made two free throws with 4.8 seconds left after he was inexplicably fouled by Kent State’s Julius Rollins, giving Akron a 62-61 win over its bitter rival in the Mid-American Conference final.
In women’s f inals
Bronagh Power-Cassidy scored 21 points as Holy Cross outlasted Boston U 6155 in Worcester, Mass., to win the Patriot League final . ... In Fairfield, Conn., Ny’Ceara Pryor scored 18 points and Sacred Heart rolled to a 6948 win over LeMoyne in the Northeast Conference final. ... In Moline, Ill., Anna Miller scored 25 points, including the winning two-pointer as time expired, as top-seeded Drake defeated No. 3 seed Missouri State 76-75 in the Missouri Valley Conference final . ... In Washington, Amaris Baker scored 19 points to lift Drexel past Stony Brook in the Coastal Athletic Assn. final . ... Deja Lee scored 21 points, and Moulayna Johnson Sidi Baba added 13 points and nine rebounds, as UC Irvine defeated UC Davis 53-39 Saturday in Henderson, Nev., to win the Big West final for the first time since 1995 . ... Anastasiia Boldyreva scored 21 points, including eight in the closing minutes, as Middle Tennessee defeated Liberty 67-51 in Hunstville, Ala., to win the Conference USA tournament final . ... Kierra Wheeler scored 20 points as Norfolk State beat Howard 51-46 in Norfolk, Va., in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference final . ... Andriana Avent scored 17 points as Jackson State defeated Alcorn State 68-44 in Birmingham, Ala., for its third Southwestern Athletic Conference title in four years . ... Emani Jefferson had 20 points to help power Florida Gulf Coast to a 76-47 win over Central Arkansas in the Atlantic Sun Conference final in Fort Myers, Fla.