BURLINGTON, Vt. — Anthony Lamb scored 28 points, and Vermont beat Maryland-Baltimore County 66-49 on Saturday to win the America East tournament championship and earn an NCAA tournament bid.

It was the seventh conference title overall and second in three years for the Catamounts (27-6), who lost to UMBC in last year’s championship game. They got their revenge on the anniversary of 16th-seeded UMBC’s shocking upset of top-seeded Virginia in last year’s NCAA tournament.

Lamb, the America East player of the year, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He went 8 of 16 from the field and had nine rebounds, and led a strong defensive effort from the Catamounts, who held the Retrievers to 34 percent shooting.

Stef Smith added 17 points for Vermont and Ben Shungu scored nine, all in the second half. K.J. Jackson led UMBC (21-13) with 15 points.

(5) DUKE 73, (12) FLORIDA STATE 63: Zion Williamson had 21 points to cap a dominating performance at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, helping the Blue Devils (29-5) beat Florida State (27-7) in the championship game at Charlotte, North Carolina.

(8) TENNESSEE 82, (4) KENTUCKY 78: Lamonte’ Turner hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds left and the Volunteers (29-4) rallied to beat Kentucky (27-6) in a Southeastern Conference semifinal thriller at Nashville, Tennesse.

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(6) MICHIGAN STATE 67, (19) WISCONSIN 55: Cassius Winston scored 21 points and Kenny Goins keyed Michigan State’s fast start, helping the Spartans (27-6) beat Wisconsin (23-10) in the Big Ten semifinals at Chicago.

(10) MICHIGAN 76, MINNESOTA 49: Isaiah Livers scored a career-high 21 points and Michigan (28-5) closed in on a record third straight Big Ten tournament championship with a semifinal win over Minnesota (21-13) at Chicago.

(11) HOUSTON 61, MEMPHIS 58: Corey Davis Jr. scored 17 points and Houston (31-2) weathered a late rally by Memphis (21-13) in the American Athletic Conference semifinals at Memphis, Tennessee.

IOWA STATE 78, (17) KANSAS 66: The fifth-seeded Cyclones (23-11) raced to a big early lead, then leaned on some balanced scoring and enough stops down the stretch to beat the Jayhawks (25-9) and remain unbeaten in five Big 12 tournament championship game appearances.

(18) BUFFALO 87, BOWLING GREEN 73: Jeremy Harris scored 31 points, C.J. Massinburg added 17 and Buffalo (31-3) beat Bowling Green (22-12) at Cleveland to win its fourth Mid-American Conference title in five years.

(22) AUBURN 65, FLORIDA 62: Jared Harper hit a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left and the Tigers (25-9) held off Florida (19-15) at Nashville, Tennessee, to reach the SEC championship game for the first time since 2000.

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(24) CINCINNATI 66, WICHITA STATE 63: Nysier Brooks scored 13 points and Cane Broome hit the go-ahead layup with 23.5 seconds left to give Cincinnati (27-6) a win over the Shockers (19-14) in the semifinals of the AAC tournament at Memphis, Tennessee.

(25) VILLANOVA 74, SETON HALL 72: Villanova (25-9) became the first team to win three consecutive Big East tournaments, beating Seton Hall (20-13) behind seniors Eric Paschall (17 points) and Phil Booth (16).

UTAH STATE 64, SAN DIEGO STATE 57: Sam Merrill scored 24 points, Neemias Queta had 17 points and eight rebounds, and the Aggies (28-6) won their first Mountain West Conference title with a victory over San Diego State (21-13) at Las Vegas.

N.C. CENTRAL 50, NORFOLK STATE 47: Zacarry Douglas scored all 10 of his points during a 25-6 second-half run and North Carolina Central (18-15) won its third consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament with a victory over top-seeded Norfolk State (21-13).

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(21) DRAKE 65, ILLINOIS STATE 54: Becca Hittner, the two-time Missouri Valley player of the year, scored 16 of her 22 points in the second half to propel Drake (27-5) into the conference championship game with a win over fourth-seeded Illinois State (19-12) at Moline, Illinois.

(24) RICE 69, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 54: Nancy Mulkey scored 24 points and Rice (28-3) rallied to defeat Middle Tennessee (22-10) in the Conference USA title game at Frisco, Texas, for the Owls’ third NCAA tournament berth.


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