Associated Press
The championship roundup …
MEMPHIS, Tenn. ó Tyreke Evans scored 18 points and Robert Dozier added 18 points and 14 rebounds Saturday, leading No. 4 Memphis past Tulsa 64-39 for its fourth straight Conference USA tournament title.
The Tigers (31-3) extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 25 and won their 61st straight league game. Memphis, last year’s national runner-up, hasn’t lost since Dec. 20 to Syracuse.
Memphis padded its NCAA record of wins during this four-year run to 135.
ATLANTIC 10
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. ó Temple is back, and going to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.
Dionte Christmas scored 29 points and the four-seeded Owls (22-11) became the first team to win consecutive Atlantic 10 Conference tournaments in eight years with a 69-64 victory over Duquesne.
The seventh-seeded Dukes (21-12) were looking for their first NCAA berth in 32 years, and just 21/2 years after five basketball players were shot on campus. They won three games in three days but couldn’t handle Temple outside-inside punch of Christmas and Sergio Olmos, who had 14 points and nine rebounds.
Aaron Jackson, the only remaining player on the team who was among those shot in the fall of 2006, led the Dukes with 20 points.
BIG 12
OKLAHOMA CITY ó DeMarre Carroll scored 20 points and No. 14 Missouri ended Baylor’s surprising run through the Big 12 tournament, grinding down the Bears 73-60 to win their first postseason conference title in 16 years.
Matt Lawrence added 13 points and his hot shooting helped the third-seeded Tigers (28-6) pull away early in the second half to spoil what would have been an unprecedented run to the title for Baylor.
Baylor made it as far as the finals with a string of three straight upsets. Curtis Jerrells scored 16 to lead the ninth-seeded Bears (20-14).
PAC 10
LOS ANGELES ó Daniel Hackett hit the tying and go-ahead free throws with 42 seconds remaining and Southern California held on for a 66-63 victory over No. 23 Arizona State to win the Pac-10 tournament championship.
Freshman DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, Hackett added 19 and Dwight Lewis 13 for the sixth-seeded Trojans (21-12), who overcame a 15-point halftime deficit to become the lowest seed to win the tourney.
James Harden, the Pac-10 player of the year, missed a free throw, a layup and a 3-pointer in the final 50 seconds for the fourth-seeded Sun Devils (24-9).
AMERICAN EAST
VESTAL, N.Y. ó Senior forward Reggie Fuller had 19 points and 10 rebounds, D.J. Rivera added 16 points, and Binghamton beat defending America East champion UMBC 61-51 for the school’s first NCAA tournament berth.
It was the 11th straight win for the Bearcats (23-8) and their first league title since moving to Division I in 2001.
MOUNTAIN WEST
LAS VEGAS ó Luke Nevill scored 10 of his 18 points in the second half of a defense-dominated game, and Shaun Green’s steal right before the buzzer clinched Utah’s 52-50 victory over San Diego State for the Mountain West Conference tournament title.
Lawrence Borha scored 12 points and hit three free throws in the final 12.8 seconds for the second-seeded Utes (24-9), the regular-season co-champs.
The 7-foot-2 Nevill, the Mountain West’s player of the year, had 15 rebounds while collecting the tournament MVP award.
MEAC
WINSTON-SALEM ó Reggie Holmes scored 20 points and Morgan State claimed its first NCAA tournament berth by beating Norfolk State 83-69 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship game.
Jermaine Bolden added 18 points and Kevin Thompson had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the top-seeded Bears (23-11). They reeled off 18 consecutive points in the first half and 11 straight in the second to send two-time MEAC coach of the year Todd Bozeman to his first NCAA tournament since he guided California there in the mid-1990s.
SOUTHLAND
KATY, Texas ó Jordan Stark scored 23 points, including a career-high seven 3-pointers, and Texas-San Antonio won the Southland Conference tournament for the second straight season with a 74-63 win over top-seeded Texas-Arlington.
Onika Anderson added 18 points for the Roadrunners (24-8).
SWAC
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ó Gaati Werema wanted to put a happier ending on this Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.
Werema certainly did that with 29 points and 16 rebounds to lead Prairie View A&M to a 74-49 victory over Southern in the championship game after tearing a knee ligament in the semifinals a year earlier.
MAC
CLEVELAND ó Akron got it right the third time.
Sparked by freshman guard Anthony “Humpty” Hitchens, the Zips won their first Mid-American Conference tournament title and the NCAA berth that goes with it by beating Buffalo 65-53. Akron is back in the NCAA tourney for the first time since 1986.
WAC