West Virginia wins first Big East title

Da’Sean Butler’s second game-winner in three days gave West Virginia its first Big East championship.

The senior guard, who banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to give West Virginia a quarterfinal win, scored in the lane with 4.2 seconds left and the seventh-ranked Mountaineers beat No. 22 Georgetown, 60-58, on Saturday night at New York.

Third-seeded West Virginia, the only one of the top four seeded teams to escape the quarterfinals, was making its second championship game appearance. Just like its two other wins in this tournament, this one was close and Butler had a lot to do with it.

Butler, who had 20 points for the Mountaineers (27-6), was selected the tournament MVP and there wasn’t much doubt about that.

Chris Wright had 20 points for the eighth-seeded Hoyas (23-10). His length-of-the-court drive to tie the game came up short.

BIG 12

Marcus Morris had 18 points, Tyrel Reed added 15 and No. 1 Kansas held off No. 9 Kansas State down the stretch for a 72-64 victory and its seventh Big 12 tournament title.

Kansas (32-2) labored through a physical, defense-dominated first half and used a small spurt midway through the second to beat its in-state rivals for the third time this season. Coming off a sixth straight regular-season title, the Jayhawks will likely be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament when the brackets are announced Sunday.

MOUNTAIN WEST

Kawhi Leonard scored 16 points, grabbed a career-best 21 rebounds and sank all eight of his free throws in the final two minutes as San Diego State fended off Nevada Las Vegas, 55-45, to win the Mountain West Conference title.

The fourth-seeded Aztecs (25-8) earned the league’s automatic NCAA bid, although third-seeded UNLV also burnished its NCAA credentials during the week. The Runnin’ Rebels (25-8) hope to join San Diego State, No. 8 New Mexico and No. 14 Brigham Young in the field that’s announced Sunday.

BIG TEN

Evan Turner rescued Ohio State again, but no one could rescue Purdue.

One day after making a 37-foot buzzer-beater in the quarterfinals, Turner bailed out the Buckeyes again, scoring 12 of his 31 points after regulation to lead Ohio State (26-7) past Illinois, 88-81, in double overtime at Indianapolis. Turner, the Big Ten player of the year, finished with a rare triple double — 31 points, 10 rebounds and 10 of Ohio State’s 18 turnovers. Turner also had six assists and two steals.

Ohio State will play in Sunday’s title game against sixth-seeded Minnesota (21-12), which held Purdue to 11 first-half points in a 69-42 rom.

SEC

No. 2 Kentucky made a strong argument for the top overall seeding in the NCAA tournament by handing 15th-ranked Tennessee a 74-45 loss in the tournament semifinals — the Volunteers’ most lopsided under Coach Bruce Pearl. Kentucky (31-2) will play defending champion Mississippi State (23-10) , a 62-52 winner over No. 20 Vanderbilt, on Sunday, looking to add a 26th tournament title to the 44th regular season championship the Wildcats already won in Coach John Calipari’s first season.

ACC

Kyle Singler scored 27 points to help fourth-ranked Duke push ahead in the second half to beat Miami, 77-74, in Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals. Jon Scheyer added 16 points, including eight in the go-ahead 15-0 run early in the second half that restored some sense of order in an upset-filled tournament. The top-seeded Blue Devils (28-5) trailed by three at halftime against the league’s last-place team before rallying to reach the championship game, where they will defend their title against Georgia Tech, which defeated North Carolina State, 57-54.

Derrick Favors had 17 points and eight rebounds as Georgia Tech (22-11) held off the 11th-seeded Wolfpack, which shot only 31%t but used its pressure defense to rally from a 10-point halftime deficit.

ATLANTIC 10

Kevin Anderson scored 27 points, David Gonzalvez added 26 and Richmond (26-7) rallied to defeat No. 24 Xavier, 89-85, in overtime at Atlantic City, N.J. Anderson made a layup with 3.1 seconds left in regulation to force the second overtime game between the teams in less than two weeks. The Spiders will face No. 17 Temple (28-5) on Sunday afternoon at Boardwalk Hall, looking to dethrone the two-time defending champions. The Owls beat Rhode Island, 57-44, in the other semifinal for their ninth straight win, holding the Rams to 17 first-half points and 27% shooting for the game.

CONFERENCE USA

Houston 81, No. 25 UTEP 73

Kelvin Lewis scored 28 points and Houston (19-15) surged past Texas El Paso down the stretch to claim its first NCAA tournament berth in 18 years with an 81-75 victory at Tulsa that snapped the Miners’ 16-game winning streak.