ST. LOUIS — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points to lead Kentucky to its fourth straight Southeastern Conference tournament championship with a 77-72 win over No. 13 Tennessee on Sunday.
The championship is the 31st in tournament history for the fourth-seeded Wildcats (24-10), who have won seven of their past eight games since a four-game losing streak last month. It’s also their first victory in three tries this season against the No. 2 seed Volunteers (25-8).
Gilgeous-Alexander was 10 of 16 from the field and added seven rebounds and a pair of steals, and he hit the clinching free throws with 2.4 seconds left.
Admiral Schofield had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead Tennessee.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC: Gary Clark put Cincinnati ahead for good with a free throw with 4.3 seconds left and the eighth-ranked Bearcats (30-4) held on for a 56-55 win over No. 21 Houston (26-7) in the conference title game at Orlando, Florida.
Clark finished with 20 points and the league regular-season champions rescued themselves for the second straight day with a stellar second half, limiting Houston to 20 percent shooting and 18 points after halftime.
ATLANTIC 10: Still looking for its first victory in the NCAA tournament since Stephen Curry led the way, Davidson made the tournament as the Atlantic 10 champion after Kellan Grady’s 17 points led the Wildcats (21-11) to a 58-57 win over 25th-ranked Rhode Island in the conference final at Washington.
Bubble teams were not pleased to see Davidson pull through, because the Wildcats were not going to join in March Madness with a loss, while the top-seeded Rams (25-7), will be in the bracket despite being defeated.
IVY LEAGUE: Darnell Foreman scored 19 points, AJ Brodeur had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Penn (24-8) earned its first NCAA tournament berth since 2007 with a 68-65 win over Harvard (18-13) in the championship game at Philadelphia.
Chris Lewis led Harvard with 16 points.
SUN BELT: D’Marcus Simonds scored 27 points for Georgia State (24-10) in its 74-61 win over Texas Arlington (21-13) in the title game at New Orleans.
BIG WEST: Kyle Allman scored 26 points, and Khalil Ahmad added 23 to lead Cal State Fullerton (20-11) to a 71-55 win over UC Irvine (18-17) at Anaheim, California, for the conference championship.
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