The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Villanova tops Creighton to win Big East tourney
Josh Hart scored 29 points and No. 2 Villanova beat Creighton 74-60 on Saturday in New York to win the Big East Tournament and probably lock up the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Hart, the conference player of the year, became just the third player to win the tournament MVP award twice, joining Patrick Ewing of Georgetown and Peyton Siva of Louisville.
Villanova (31-3) played Villanova basketball, just as the Wildcats did last season in winning the national championship. Good defense, sharing the ball and making 3-pointers is the formula that has led them to four consecutive Big East regular-season titles.
This was their third Big East Tournament crown, the others coming in 1995 and 2015.
The Wildcats had their hands on so many Creighton passes, they forced 17 turnovers that led to 21 points. And with Hart leading the way, they made every big shot they needed.
Jalen Brunson added 17 points for Villanova. Kris Jenkins, whose 3-pointer won the national championship game last year, had 14.
Cole Huff and Marcus Foster each scored 13 points to lead Creighton (25-9).
Villanova, which lost last season’s Big East championship game to Seton Hall, closed the first half on a 25-11 run to go up 36-22. Hart had 12 points in the spurt and Brunson added eight. The two combined to score the Wildcats’ final 20 points in the semifinals.
The lead reached 46-26, and the closest the Bluejays got the rest of the way was 12.
Hart, who along with Brunson defended Foster, scored every way imaginable, from 3-pointers to acrobatic drives. He finished the tournament with 63 points and was 21 of 41 from the field. The 29 points marked his thirdhighest total of the season.
Creighton was 2 of 12 from 3-point range in the first half and the Bluejays committed 10 turnovers, only 2.3 fewer than they averaged per game this season.
The title game was played before a sellout crowd of 19,812 at Madison Square Garden, which hosted the tournament for the 35th consecutive year. NO. 8 KENTUCKY 79, ALABAMA 74 >> At Nashville, Tennessee, De’Aaron Fox scored a career-high 28 points, including seven straight down the stretch, and Malik Monk added 20 to lift Kentucky past Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.
The Wildcats shot 52 percent from the floor and 69 percent from the line after missing numerous chances that left openings for the pesky Crimson Tide to stay close. But Kentucky converted chances when needed, hitting 13 of 17 free throws in the final six minutes with Fox making 5 of 7 in particular and 11 of 15 overall.
Bam Adebayo had 10 points and nine rebounds to send top-seeded Kentucky (28-5) to Sunday’s championship game against the winner of the other semifinal between Vanderbilt and Arkansas.
Dazon Ingram had 17 points for No. 5 seed Alabama (19-14), which outrebounded Kentucky 33-28, but couldn’t get the basket when needed to overcome the Wildcats. NO. 23 IOWA STATE 80, NO. 11 WEST VIRGINIA 74 >> At Kansas City, Missouri, Monte Morris scored 17 points, Deonte Burton and Matt Thomas helped him deal with West Virginia’s attacking defense, and Iowa State beat the Mountaineers for the Cyclones’ third Big 12 Tournament title in four years.
Burton had 16 points and Thomas finished with 12 for the fourth-seeded Cyclones (23-10), who will enter the NCAA Tournament as one of the nation’s hottest teams. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games, with their only loss during that stretch coming a week ago in Morgantown.