Xavier victory clinches share of Big East title
CINCINNATI — Trevon Bluiett scored 23 points in his final home game, and No. 3 Xavier never trailed while beating Providence 84-74 on Wednesday night, clinching at least a share of its first Big East championship.
The Musketeers (26-4, 14-3) can win it outright by beating DePaul on Saturday and end Villanova's run of four straight regular-season titles. The Musketeers' last conference crown came in 2011 in the Atlantic 10.
Xavier opened with a 21-8 run, but Providence made 12 of its last 14 shots in the half, cutting the deficit to 40-37. Xavier found its touch to start the second half and made eight of its first 10, rebuilding the lead to 12 points.
Maliek White led the Friars (18-12, 9-8) with 15 points. tournament opener in New York. Bohannon scored 25 points and had six assists, including a bounce pass to Luka Garza for a jam with 34 seconds left to keep the Illini at bay. Kipper Nichols scored a careerbest 31 points for Illinois. Iowa advances to play No. 5 seed Michigan on Thursday.
Corey Sanders scored 23 points and last-place Rutgers (14-18) won a Big Ten tournament game for the second straight season, beating No. 11 seed Minnesota (15-17), which lost 14 of its final 16 games. The Scarlet Knights, the worst freethrow shooting team in the Big Ten, made 7 of 8 from the line down the stretch to seal it. Isaiah Washington led the Gophers with 18 points.
Mikal Bridges scored 23 points and Villanova (26-4, 13-4) avoided consecutive losses for the first time since 2012-13 by beating Seton Hall (20-10, 9-8) in the Big East. Jalen Brunson finished with 14 points, including two free throws in the waning seconds of overtime to give the Wildcats a 69-66 lead. Khadeen Carrington had 23 points for the Pirates, and he closed the scoring with two free throws with one second to play.
Kevin Knox had 22 points and Quade Green added 18, including eight during a 15-5 second-half run that helped Kentucky (21-9, 10-7) pull away from visiting Mississippi (1218, 5-12) to win a chippy Southeastern Conference game in which five technical fouls were called and Rebels forward Marcanvis Hymon was ejected after 3½ minutes. Terence Davis had 26 points for Ole Miss, which lost for the ninth time in 11 games.
WOMEN
Teniya Page scored career-high 38 points and 11th-seeded Penn State (16-14) cruised past No. 14 Illinois (9-22) in a firstround Big Ten tournament game in Indianapolis. Page scored 13 straight points in a 15-0 run and 18 points overall in the second quarter when the Nittany Lions erased a seven-point deficit to take a 33-27 halftime lead. She also had 15 points in the third quarter as Penn State got the lead into double figures for good. Alex Wittinger and Brandi Beasley had 21 points apiece for the Illini, who have lost 18 straight. Penn State will next face No. 6 seed Michigan on Thursday.
Lindsey Pulliam scored 18 of her 24 points in the first half and No. 12 seed Northwestern (12-19) beat No. 13 Wisconsin (9-21) in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Cayla McMorris led Wisconsin with 22 points. Northwestern advances to play fifth-seeded Iowa on Thursday.