Sears’ floater at buzzer sends No. 7 ‘Bama past No. 1 Auburn

AUBURN, Ala. — Mark Sears hit a game-winning floater as time expired, and No. 7 Alabama spoiled the home finale of rival and No. 1 Auburn with a 93-91 overtime road win Saturday.

The off-balance buzzer-beater from the free-throw line was only the third made basket of the game for Sears, who finished with nine points.

Alabama (24-7, 13-5 Southeastern Conference) got 23 points from Grant Nelson and 15 points each from Labaron Philon and Clifford Omoruyi.

The win ended a two-game losing skid for Alabama and handed a second straight loss for Auburn (27-4, 15-3).

Johni Broome scored 34 points, including a game-tying layup in the final minute of regulation and a game-tying 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in overtime.

Tahaad Pettiford added 19 points for Auburn, which was without second-leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara for the final 10:52 of regulation and overtime. Baker-Mazara was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul on Alabama’s Chris Youngblood.

Sears’ game-winning shot put an end to a back-and-forth final stretch between two of the best offenses in college basketball this season.

Both teams’ star players logged heavy minutes. Sears played 40 minutes for Alabama, while Broome played 43 for Auburn.

As top-four seeds in the SEC Tournament, Auburn and Alabama will both open the postseason on Friday in Nashville, Tenn.

No. 2 DUKE 82,

NORTH CAROLINA 69

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Freshman Kon Knueppel scored 17 points to help No. 2 Duke beat rival North Carolina 82-69 on Saturday night and clinch the outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.

Cooper Flagg added 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists despite first-half foul trouble for the Blue Devils (28-3, 19-1).

Duke blew a 15-point first-half lead and trailed by seven midway early after the break, but responded with 12 consecutive points to turn the game and silence a roaring hostile crowd.

The Blue Devils are now in position to rise to No. 1 in Monday’s AP Top 25 poll with top-ranked Auburn losing its past two games.

Fifth-year senior RJ Davis scored 20 points in his final home game for Tar Heels (20-12), who were blown out in the first meeting but responded with far more resilience this time before Duke asserted control to stretch out the lead in the final seven minutes.

UNC led 59-53 when Duke made its move with 12 straight points in a 15-2 burst that put the Blue Devils ahead to stay. That included Knueppel’s backdoor layup for the lead, while versatile defender Maliq Brown had a big 3-pointer in his return from injury that pushed Duke to a 68-61 lead with 8 1/2 minutes left.

UNC missed 22 of its last 27 shots in the final 15-plus minutes as Duke made its move.

The ACC Tournament starts Tuesday in Charlotte. Duke opens play as the 1-seed in Thursday’s quarterfinals. UNC is the 5-seed and will play in Wednesday’s second round.

No. 4 TENNESSEE 75, SOUTH CAROLINA 65

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chaz Lanier scored 23 points to lead No. 4 Tennessee to a 75-65 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

The Volunteers (25-6, 12-6 Southeastern Conference) wrapped up a double bye for the SEC Tournament. Cade Phillips came off the bench to score 15 points, Igor Milicic had 13 and Jordan Gainey added 10 points.

Jamarii Thomas scored 20 to lead the Gamecocks (12-19, 2-16). Nick Pringle had 16 points and 14 rebounds. Zachary Davis added 10 points.

Tennessee led by 10 points midway through the first half. South Carolina rallied with a 12-3 run. Thomas had 14 points and the score was tied at 34 at halftime.

Leading by three midway through the second half, Tennessee went on a 14-5 run from which South Carolina never recovered. Lanier had nine of those 14 points.

Tennessee shot better from the field (30 for 55, 54.5%) than from the free throw line (9 for 21, 42.9%).

South Carolina and Tennessee will play in the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, next week.

No. 5 FLORIDA 90, MISSISSIPPI 71

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points on senior night, Alex Condon notched his second straight double-double and No. 5 Florida beat Mississippi 90-71 in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday.

Fellow senior Alijah Martin chipped in 13 points for the Gators, who closed out the regular season by winning nine of 10 and strengthening their case for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Florida (27-4, 14-4 Southeastern Conference) already clinched the No. 2 seed in next week’s league tourney.

Coach Todd Golden’s team put this one away with a 14-0 run early in the second half, turning a three-point game into a lopsided affair. Clayton, Condon and Martin did most of the scoring in the spurt.

Condon finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Clayton, Martin and Will Richard were honored before their home finale.

Sean Pedulla led the Rebels (21-10, 10-8) with 22 points.

Richard brought down the house when he was introduced last on senior day. Richard, a transfer from Belmont, was Golden’s first signee at Florida in 2022.

Clayton extended his school-record streak of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 53. He hit back-to-back 3s in each half.

Mississippi will be the No. 8 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament and play the South Carolina-Arkansas winner Thursday. Florida has a double bye and will play Friday.

No. 6 ST. JOHN’S 86, No. 20 MARQUETTE 84

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Zuby Ejiofor hit a tiebreaking shot at the buzzer, Kadary Richmond got the first St. John’s triple-double this century and the sixth-ranked Red Storm beat No. 20 Marquette 86-84 in overtime Saturday for their sixth consecutive victory.

St. John’s (27-4, 18-2 Big East) matched a program record for regular-season wins. The Johnnies went 27-4 in 1985-86 and ended up finishing 31-5 that year. They already had clinched their first Big East outright regular-season title since 1985 a week earlier.

After Marquette’s Kam Jones converted a game-tying driving layup with 26.4 seconds left, RJ Luis Jr. missed a 3-pointer for St. John’s. Marquette’s Chase Ross initially got the rebound, but Richmond knocked the ball out of his hands and it went to Simeon Wilcher.

Wilcher got the ball to Ejiofor, who hit a shot in the paint just before the horn sounded.

Luis had 28 points and 11 rebounds, while Ejiofor had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Richmond finished with 10 points, 11 assists and 12 rebounds.

Richmond’s triple-double was the first for St. John’s since Ron Artest had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists against Seton Hall on Jan. 9, 1999.

Jones had 32 points and David Joplin scored 21 for Marquette (22-9, 13-7).

Luis scored in the paint with 10.7 seconds left in regulation to force the extra session. Marquette’s Ben Gold missed a potential game-winner in the closing seconds of regulation.

St. John’s outscored Marquette 27-10 in second-chance points. Marquette went 12 of 22 on free-throw attempts.

St. John’s is the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament and faces either Providence or Butler in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Marquette is seeded fifth and plays Xavier on Thursday.

No. 10 IOWA STATE 73, KANSAS STATE 57

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Curtis Jones scored 24 points to lead No. 10 Iowa State past Kansas State 73-57 on Saturday.

The Cyclones (23-8, 13-7 Big 12) led wire-to-wire. They got 14 points from Joshua Jefferson and 11 points from Dishon Jackson.

Kansas State (15-16, 9-11) was led by senior David N’Guessan with 19 points. Dug McDaniel had 14 points.

The Wildcats shot just 37.7% from the field and 9.5% from 3-point range.

Kansas State closed the first half on an 8-0 run to trim the halftime deficit to 34-26. But the Wildcats couldn’t carry the momentum into the second half. After K-State got within 6 points, the Cyclones went on an 11-0 run to grab their largest lead to that point in the game.

The Cyclones took advantage of their opponent’s mistakes, earning a 22-6 advantage in points off turnovers.

Both teams will appear in the Big 12 Tournament, with the pairings announced later Saturday.

PENN STATE 86, No. 12 WISCONSIN 75

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — D’Marco Dunn had 25 points and Yanic Konan Niederhauser added 15 points and 11 rebounds as Penn State rallied in the second half for an 86-75 victory over No. 12 Wisconsin on Saturday, preventing the Badgers from clinching a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament.

Wisconsin (23-8, 13-7) went into the weekend in a three-way tie for third with No. 13 Maryland and No. 18 Purdue, but could have secured the double bye with a victory following Illinois’ victory over the Boilermakers on Friday.

John Blackwell and Steven Crowl had 19 points apiece for Wisconsin, which had won 22 consecutive home games against Penn State, including 19-0 all-time at the Kohl Center.

Penn State (16-15, 6-14), which trailed by 13 late in the first half, went in front 69-62 on Dunn’s turnaround from the lane.

Wisconsin cut the lead to 72-70 on Blackwell’s 3-pointer from the right corner with 3:43 left. The Badgers then went without a field goal over the final 3:43, missing its last six shots.

The Nittany Lions closed the first half with an 8-0 run, cutting the deficit to 40-35.