Auburn overpowers Gators for SEC championship
Auburn claimed its third SEC tournament title with an 86-67 win over Florida to cap a dominant threeday run through the bracket on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn.
The Tigers (27-7) were led by center Johni Broome with 19 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, while also spearheading a suffocating defensive effort that put Auburn in line for a prestigious spot in the NCAA Tournament hours before brackets were revealed on Selection Sunday.
Broome was named SEC tournament MVP with 47 points, 24 rebounds and six blocks in three games at Nashville.
The win was Auburn’s sixth in a row since losing 92-84 at Tennessee on Feb. 28.
Florida lost center Micah Handlogten to an injury late in the first half. The program confirmed postgame Handlogten suffered a broken lower left leg just over two minutes into the game when the 7-foot-1 center went up to grab an offensive rebound and landed hard on his leg.
Florida was 1 of 13 from three-point range and shot 36.4 from the field.
Senior guard Zyon Pullin led the Gators with 15 points and seven rebounds and Walter Clayton Jr. added 13 points and four rebounds.
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Big 10 — No. 13 Illinois 93, Wisconsin 87: Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 34 points in another high-octane effort and the Illini (26-8) beat the Badgers (22-13) in Minneapolis.
Ivy League — Yale 62,
Brown 61: Matt Knowling made a short jumper along the baseline as time expired to lift the secondseeded Bulldogs (22-9) over the fourth-seeded Bears (13-18) in New York. John Poulakidas scored 18 points for Yale, which overcame a four-point deficit with 21 seconds to play to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in eight seasons.
Atlantic 10 — Duquesne 57, VCA 51: For the first time in 47 years, Duquesne is headed back to the NCAA Tournament, as the Dukes knocked off the Rams in the Atlantic 10 tournament final in Brooklyn, New York. Last seen dancing in 1977, the Dukes built an 18-point first-half lead and survived a furious VCU comeback to claim the A-10 tournament title.
Dae Dae Grant paced the Dukes with 10 points, while Drame scored six to go along with 12 rebounds. Joe
Bamisile led the Rams with 20 points. Zeb Jackson chipped in 11.
LATE SATURDAY
Big 12 championship — No. 7 Iowa State 69,
No. 1 Houston 41: Milan Momcilovic scored 18 points as the Cyclones dominated the Cougars in front of a largely partisan Iowa State crowd in Kansas City, Mo.
Iowa State is the only school to have played in the tournament title game and never lost. The Cyclones are now 6-0 all-time in tournament championship games.
The Cyclones shot 25 of 50 against the nation’s best field-goal percentage defense. No. 2-seed Iowa
State (27-7) also got 16 points from Keshon Gilbert and 13 from Hason Ward. Gilbert was named tournament MVP.
Big East championship — No. 2 UConn 73,
No. 10 Marquette 57: Donovan Clingan put up 22 points and 16 rebounds, Tristen Newton and Jaylin Stewart each drilled three critical three-pointers and the Huskies pulled away from the Golden Eagles to win the Big East championship game in New York.
The top-seeded Huskies claimed their first Big East tournament title since
2011, before the university left the conference from 2013-20. After sweeping third-seeded Marquette during the regular season, UConn avenged a semifinal loss to the Golden Eagles in last year’s tournament.
Newton had 13 points, 10 assists and five rebounds for UConn (31-3). Kam Jones tallied 13 points and eight rebounds and David Joplin added 12 points and six boards for the Golden Eagles (25-9.
Atlantic Coast Conference championship— NC State 84, No. 4 North
Carolina 76: DJ Horne scored 29 points as the Wolfpack (22-14), seeded 10th, pulled off their improbable fifth victory in five days, beating the top-seeded Tar Heels (27-7) to win the ACC tournament for the first time since 1987.
Southwestern Athletic Conference championship — Grambling State 75, Texas Southern 66: The top-seeded Tigers (20-14) dominated the opening 20 minutes and held off third-seeded and three-time defending tournament champion Texas Southern (16-16) in Birmingham, Ala., to advance to the program’s first
NCAA Tournament.
Pac-12 championship — Oregon 75, Colorado 68: N’Faly Dante shot 12 of 12 from the floor en route to a game-high 25 points, and the fourth-seeded Ducks (23-11) outlasted the third-seeded Buffaloes (24-10) in Las Vegas.
Conference USA championship — Western Kentucky 78, UTEP 71: A 13-0 run midway through the second half turned a six-point deficit into a seven-point lead and the Hilltoppers (22-11) never looked back in Huntsville, Ala., beating the fifthseeded Miners (18-16).
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship — Howard 70, Delaware State 67: Four starters scored in double figures as the Bison (18-16) captured the conference title for the second straight year in Norfolk, Va., beating the sixth-seeded Hornets (1518).
Mountain West Conference championship — New Mexico 68, San Diego State 61: Jaelen House scored a game-high 28 points and Jamal Mashburn Jr. added 21 to lead the Lobos (26-9) past the Aztecs
(24-10) in Las Vegas for their fist conference title since winning three straight from 2012-14.
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship — Saint Peter’s 68, Fairfield 63: Two years after their run to the Elite Eight, the Peacocks (19-13) are back in the NCAA Tournament after topping the Stags (22-12) in Atlantic City, N.J.
Big West Conference championship — Long Beach State 74, UC Davis 70: A day after knocking off the tournament’s top seed, the Beach (21-14) completed their run to the NCAA Tournament, beating the Aggies (20-13) in Henderson, Nev. The
Beach have been to the NCAA Tournament nine times but will be making their first appearance since 2012.
Mid-American Conference championship — Akron 62, Kent State 61: Greg Tribble sank two free throws with 4.8 seconds left to lift the Zips (24-10) over the Golden Flashes (17-17) in the Mid-American Conference tournament championship game in Cleveland.
America East championship — Vermont 66, UMass-Lowell 61: The Catamounts (28-6) claimed their third straight America East title — and sixth in eight seasons — with a win over the River Hawks (2210) in Burlington, Vt.
Western Athletic Conference championship — Grand Canyon 89, UT Arlington 74: The topseeded Lopes (29-4) advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season, beating the Mavericks (20-14) to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament in Las Vegas.