BURLINGTON, Vt. – Vermont capped off a perfect America East season with the conference tournament championship Saturday.

Payton Henson converted a three-point play with 39 seconds left to propel the Catamounts to a 56-53 victory against Albany in the America East men’s basketball championship game.

Malik Monk, who finished with 20 points for Kentucky, shoots over Bola Olaniyan of Alabama during the first half of Kentucky's 79-74 victory in the Southeastern Conference semifinals Saturday. The Wildcats will take on Arkansas in the championship game Sunday. Associated Press/Wade Payne

Devonte Campbell of Albany slips past Anthony Lamb of Vermont for a layup Saturday. Vermont won the America East championship and an NCAA tournament berth with a 56-53 victory at home. Associated Press/Ryan Mercer, The Burlington Free Press

The top-seeded Catamounts (29-5) secured a berth in the NCAA tournament with their 21st consecutive victory. The Catamounts were the first team to go 16-0 in the league’s regular season.

Trailing by nine with 8:45 left, the Catamounts rallied to defeat the Great Danes (21-13).

BIG EAST: Josh Hart scored 29 points and No. 2 Villanova (31-3) beat Creighton (25-9) 74-60 at New York to win the 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.

Good defense, sharing the ball and making 3-pointers is the formula that has led the Wildcats to four consecutive Big East regular-season titles.

This was their third Big East tournament title, the others coming in 1995 and 2015.

BIG 12: Monte Morris scored 17 points, Deonte Burton added 16 and Matt Thomas scored 12 as No. 23 Iowa State (23-10) beat No. 11 West Virginia (26-8) at Kansas City, Missouri, for the Cyclones’ third tournament title in four years.

The fourth-seeded Cyclones will enter the NCAA tournament as one of the nation’s hottest teams. They have won nine of their last 10 games, with their only loss during that stretch coming a week ago in Morgantown.

They avenged that defeat in a big way at the Sprint Center.

Iowa State has never lost in four appearances in the Big 12 title game, while the Mountaineers remain without a conference tournament title since winning the Big East in 2010.

SOUTHEASTERN: Moses Kingsley had 12 points and 13 rebounds as third-seeded Arkansas (25-8) beat Vanderbilt (19-15) 76-62 in the semifinals 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 No. 8 Kentucky (28-5) past Alabama (19-14) 79-74 in the semifinals at Nashville, Tennessee.

BIG TEN: Wisconsin (25-8) revved up the defense against Northwestern (23-11) and got a 76-48 victory at Washington that earned the No. 24 Badgers a berth in the championship game for the third time in five years.

• Derrick Walton Jr. had 29 points, nine assists and five rebounds to carry eighth-seeded Michigan (23-11) into the title game with an 84-77 victory against fourth-seeded Minnesota (24-9) at Washington.

SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC: Kevin Scott had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and top-seeded Texas Southern (24-11) beat Alcorn State (18-14) 53-50 at Houston to win the conference tournament.

IVY: Myles Stephens scored 21 points, including the tying tip-in in regulation and the first four points of overtime, to help send top-seeded Princeton (22-6) past fourth-seeded Penn (13-15) 72-64 in the opener of the inaugural tourney at Philadelphia.

• Miye Oni scored 18 points and Yale (18-10) never trailed to beat Harvard (18-10) 73-71 in a semifinal of the inaugural tournament at Philadelphia.

ATLANTIC 10: JeQuan Lewis scored 18 points, including a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, and Virginia Commonwealth (21-7) got an 87-77 win over Richmond (20-12) to advance to the championship game at Pittsburgh.

• E.C. Matthews scored 19 points, hitting all four of his 3-point attempts, and fourth-seeded Rhode Island (23-9) cruised into the championship game with an 84-60 victory against ninth-seeded Davidson (17-15) at Pittsburgh.

SUN BELT: Wesley Person scored 16 points, Jordon Varnado had 15 points and nine rebounds, and sixth-seeded Troy (21-14) upset No. 2 seed Georgia State (20-12) 74-63 in a semifinal at New Orleans.

• Bobby Conley scored 16 points and Immanuel King scored 11 of his 13 in the first half when Texas State (20-12) built a nine-point lead and went on to upset top-seeded UT Arlington (25-8) in a semifinal at New Orleans.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC: Sterling Brown scored 22 points and No. 12 SMU (29-4) beat Central Florida (21-11) 70-59 in the semifinals at Hartford, Connecticut.

• Gary Clark scored 24 points to lead No. 15 Cincinnati (29-4) to an 81-71 victory against UConn (16-17) in the semifinals at Hartford, Connecticut.

MID-EASTERN ATHLETIC: Patrick Cole scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Dajuan Graf added 17 points, and North Carolina Central (25-8) beat Norfolk State (17-16) 67-59 in the championship game at Norfolk, Virginia, for the Eagles’ second NCAA tournament spot in four years.

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