Santiago Vescovi recorded 17 points with five assists and No. 9 Tennessee notched a 65-50 wire-to-wire victory over Texas A&M to win the Southeastern Conference tournament title on Sunday afternoon at Tampa.
Josiah-Jordan James contributed 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots as the second-seeded Volunteers (26-7) won the SEC tourney crown for the first time since 1979. Kennedy Chandler added 14 points and seven assists as Tennessee claimed the SEC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with its seventh consecutive victory.
Tyrece Radford registered 13 points, six rebounds and three steals for eighth-seeded Texas A&M (23-12). Henry Coleman III had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Aggies.
The Aggies played themselves into consideration for an at-large berth with three straight wins in the SEC tournament, including upsets of No. 4 Auburn and No. 15 Arkansas, but they were not selected for the field later in the day Sunday.
No. 24 Iowa 75, No. 9 Purdue 66
Keegan Murray scored 19 points with 11 rebounds and Tony Perkins added 11 points to lead No. 24 Iowa to a 75-66 victory over ninth-ranked Purdue in the Big Ten tournament championship game Sunday at Indianapolis.
The fifth-seeded Hawkeyes (26-9) avenged a pair of regular-season losses to Purdue to win the conference tournament for the first time since 2006. The third-seeded Boilermakers (27-7), whose last tournament title was 2009, lost in the final for the third time in six seasons.
Jaden Ivey led Purdue with 20 points, Trevion Williams added 13 and Zach Edey had 12 points with a career-high 14 rebounds.
No. 18 Houston 71, Memphis 53
Fabian White Jr. scored 20 points and Josh Carlton added 18 as the Cougars outslugged the Tigers to win the American Athletic Conference tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Cougars (29-5) avenged a blowout loss to Memphis in the final game of the regular season and earned the AAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers (21-10) cut their deficit to 51-47 with 6:55 to play, but the Cougars reasserted themselves, reeling off the next seven points and cruising from there.
Taze Moore had 11 points, Jamal Shead scored 10 and Kyler Edwards took 11 rebounds for Houston. Jalen Duren shrugged off a wrist injury to lead Memphis with 14 points and 10 rebounds while DeAndre Williams added 10 points.
Richmond 64, Davidson 62
The sixth-seed Spiders pulled off their third upset in a row, stunning the top-seeded Wildcats to win the Atlantic 10 tournament at Washington, D.C. Richmond’s Matt Grace drove the lane and completed a three-point play to put the Spiders up 63-62 with 19.1 seconds remaining. Jacob Gilyard scored 26 points and Tyler Burton added 16 points and 12 rebounds for Richmond (23-12), while Sam Mennenga had 18 points and Michael Jones had 17 for Davidson (27-6).
Yale 66, Princeton 64
The Bulldogs fought off a furious comeback attempt by the Tigers to earn the Ivy League’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament with the victory at Boston. Azar Swain had 23 points and Bez Mbeng added 13 for Yale (19-11), which also won the Ivy League in 2019. Tosan Evbuomwan led Princeton (23-6) with 20 points, while Jaelin Llewellyn added 18.
–Field Level Media
