Connecticut's Ray Allen turned a dismal second half into a brilliant final moment and lifted the No. 3 Huskies to the Big East championship Saturday night.
Allen, the conference Player of the Year, had missed all eight of his shots in the half as UConn fell 11 points behind No. 6 Georgetown. But with the clock down to the final 13 seconds, he drove by Allen Iverson for the winning basket as the Huskies edged the Hoyas 75-74.UConn led 10 more schools into the NCAA tournament. Included in that group were Texas Tech and Cincinnati, ranked seventh and eighth respectively. Both figured all along they'd be going to the NCAA tournament, but Texas and Marquette just didn't make it easy for them to get there.
The Red Raiders and edged Texas 75-73 for the final Southwest Conference championship and Cincinnati nipped No. 21 Marquette 85-84 for the first Conference USA crown.
Meanwhile, No. 4 Purdue's bid for one of the NCAA tournament's top seeds was jolted in the final game of the Big Ten season when No. 19 Iowa ended the Boilermakers' 11-game winning streak 56-52. Jess Settles scored 18 points and Andre Woolridge added 13 for Iowa (22-8, 11-7 Big Ten). Purdue (25-5, 15-3) shot just 38.5 percent.
Tournament Championships
Big East
No. 3 UConn 75, No. 6 G'town 74
UConn (29-2) rescued the Big East title with a 12-0 run down the stretch to catch Georgetown. The Hoyas (26-7) led 74-63 with 4:46 to play but never scored another point.
Southwest
No. 7 Texas Tech 75, Texas 73
Cory Carr scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half, and Jason Sasser had 24 as Texas Tech (28-1) won its 21st straight. The Red Raiders rallied to defeat Texas in the final game for the SWC, which is closing down after this season.
Conference USA
No. 8 Cincinnati 85,
No. 21 Marquette 84
Darnell Burton's basket with 40.5 seconds left in overtime moved Cincinnati (25-4) past Marquette for the Conference USA tournament championship.
Atlantic 10
No. 2 UMass 75, Temple 61
Camelo Travieso hit seven 3-pointers, leading Massachusetts to its fifth consecutive Atlantic 10 championship. Travieso finished with 21 points as the second-ranked Minutemen (31-1) earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. UMass also broke the league record by winning a fifth A-10 title and set a school record for wins.
Mid-American
Eastern Michigan 77, Toledo 63
Eastern Michigan (24-5) earned its ticket to the tournament by winning the Mid-American Conference championship as Brad Tolbert scored 10 of his 21 points during a decisive 13-2 second-half run.
Southland
Northeast Louisiana 71, North Texas 60
Nick Dillon's 17 points led four players in double figures as Northeast Louisiana (16-13) won the Southland Conference tournament and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
Ivy
Princeton 63, Penn 56, OT
Sydney Johnson's 3-pointer with 1:03 left in overtime lifted Princeton past Penn in their playoff for the Ivy League championship.
Southwestern
Miss. Valley St. 111, Jacksonville St. 94
Marcus Mann scored 27 points and had 28 rebounds as Mississippi Valley State defeated Jacksonville State for the automatic SWAC bid. Dendrius Rucker had 34 points and 16 rebounds for the Delta Devils (22-6).
Tournament Semifinals
Southeastern
No. 1 Kentucky 95, Arkansas 75
The top-ranked Wildcats (28-1) continued their march to a perfect SEC season winning their 27th straight game in the SEC semifinals.
No. 25 Miss. St. 86, Georgia 68
Darryl Wilson scored 21 points to lead four players in double figures as Mississippi State (21-9) reached the SEC championship game for the first time since 1933.
Atlantic Coast
No. 18 Ga. Tech 84, Maryland 79
Top-seeded Tech (22-10) ran its ACC winning streak to nine games, tying a school record, and moved into the tournament semifinals on some hot 3-point shooting.
No. 12 Wk. Forest 68, Clemson 60
Tim Duncan's 22 points and 19 rebounds carried defending champion Wake Forest (22-5) past Clemson and into the ACC title game. The Demon Deacons will be seeking consecutive conference titles for the first time in 14 years.
Big Eight
No. 5 Kansas 61, Kansas St. 55
Raef LaFrentz led Kansas past K-State in the semifinals of the Big Eight tournament, scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
No. 23 Iowa St. 57, Missouri 53
Dedric Willoughby scored 25 points, including two free throws with 21 seconds left that pushed Iowa State past Missouri in the Big Eight semifinals. The Cyclones meet No.
Other Games
No. 16 Penn St. 86, Ohio St. 70
The Nittany Lions (21-6, 12-6 Big Ten) ended a two-game losing streak as Glenn Sekunda scored 21 points.
No. 17 UCLA 82, Washington St. 71
Charles O'Bannon scored 24 points and freshman Jelani McCoy added 20 defending NCAA champion UCLA beat Washington.