No. 2 Villanova advances to Big East title game
NEW YORK - Josh Hart scored 19 points, including the game-winning basket with 9.6 seconds to play and No. 2 Villanova beat Seton Hall 55-53 on Friday night in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament.
Hart’s three-point play on a rebound was the fifth lead change of the final 4 minutes and there were two ties.
There was almost a third as Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado, the nation’s leading rebounder, missed a shot from in close with 1 second left.
The Wildcats (30-3), the four-time defending regular-season champion, will face the winner of the Creighton-Xavier for the title on Saturday.
No. 14 Duke 93, No. 6 North Carolina 83 at New York:
Jayson Tatum scored 24 points and Duke rallied past North Carolina with another surge in the second half, taking advantage of foul trouble for Tar Heels point guard Joel Berry II and beating its fierce rival in the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals.
Luke Kennard had 20 points and Grayson Allen added 18 for the Blue Devils (26-8), who will play for the title Saturday against No. 22 Notre Dame.
No. 8 Kentucky 71, Georgia 60 at Nashville, Tenn.:
Isaiah Briscoe and De’Aaron Fox each scored 20 points, Bam Adebayo added 13 and Kentucky went on to beat Georgia in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Coming off a double bye as the No. 1 seed, the well-rested Wildcats started both halves quickly and steadily pulled away for a double-digit win over the Bulldogs after two close victories. Kentucky (27-5) offset 38 percent shooting by holding Georgia to 19 of 57 from the field (33 percent).
No. 11 West Virginia 51, Kansas State 50 at Kansas City, Mo.:
West Virginia’s Esa Ahmad made the second of two free throws with 20.2 seconds left, and an off-balance 3-pointer by Kansas State’s Kamau Stokes was off at the buzzer, allowing the Mountaineers to escape with a victory in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.
Tarik Phillip tied the game for the Mountaineers (26-7) with a 3-pointer with 1:41 left, and the Wildcats (20-13) came up empty at the other end. Ahmad was fouled during a mad scramble for a rebound moments later, and he clanked his first free throw before making his second.
The Mountaineers will face No. 23 Iowa State in the tournament final Saturday night.
No. 12 SMU 81, East Carolina 77 at Hartford, Conn.:
Semi Ojeleye scored a career-high 36 points and SMU held off East Carolina in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
The conference’s player of the year hit 12 of his 19 shots and pulled down 12 rebounds, giving him his fifth doubledouble this season.
Michigan 74, No. 13 Purdue 70 (OT) at Washington:
Two days after its airplane’s scary abandoned takeoff, Michigan’s wild journey carried right on into the Big Ten semifinals with a 74-70 overtime upset of Purdue behind D.J. Wilson’s 26 points.
The eighth-seeded Wolverines (2211) got 13 points from Zak Irvin against the No. 1 seed Boilermakers (25-7).
No. 15 Cincinnati 80, Tulsa 61 at Hartford, Conn.:
Kyle Washington scored 21 points and Jacob Evans added 20 to lead Cincinnati to a rout of Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals. Troy Caupain added 15 points for the Bearcats (28-4), who led for all but 17 seconds and by as many as 24 points.
No. 22 Notre Dame 77, No. 16 Florida State 73 at New York:
Steve Vasturia and Bonzie Colson each scored 18 points and Notre Dame knocked off Florida State to advance to the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title game.
The third-seeded Fighting Irish (25-8) will face fifth-seeded and No. 14 Duke on Saturday night for the ACC Tournament championship at Barclays Center.
Vanderbilt 72, No. 17 Florida 62 (OT) at Nashville, Tenn.:
Riley LaChance scored five of his 18 points in overtime, and Vanderbilt upset Florida in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
The Commodores (19-14) beat the Gators for the third time this season and second in seven days.
No. 23 Iowa State 84, TCU 63 at Kansas City, Mo.:
Deonte Burton scored 22 points, Monte Morris had 15 and Iowa State routed TCU to reach its third Big 12 Tournament title game in the past four seasons.
The fourth-seeded Cyclones (22-10) clearly weren’t impressed — or intimidated — by the Horned Frogs’ victory against top-ranked Kansas in the quarterfinals. Iowa State used two big firsthalf runs to assume control, and then stretched its advantage to 26 points midway through the second.
No. 24 Wisconsin 70, Indiana 60 at Washington:
Showing signs that its late-season swoon might be over, Wisconsin slowed Indiana’s offense and used Ethan Happ’s 14 points and 12 rebounds to beat the Hoosiers in the Big Ten quarterfinals.
Bronson Koenig scored 16 points to lead five Badgers in double figures.
Northwestern 72, No. 25 Maryland 64 at Washington:
Making itself right at home on a court that was anything but neutral, Northwestern roared into the semifinal round of the Big Ten Tournament with a 72-64 upset of Maryland.
Scottie Lindsey and Vic Law each scored 17 points for the Wildcats (2310), who took control with a 20-2 run in the second half.
— Wire services