Irish top Tar Heels for first ACC crown

Jerian Grant scored 24 points and No. 11 Notre Dame took over with a 26-3 second-half run to rally past No. 19 North Carolina, 90-82, Saturday night for its first Atlantic Coast Conference title.

Pat Connaughton added 20 points for the third-seeded Irish (29-5).

Notre Dame had turned a 63-54 deficit into an 80-66 lead on Connaughton's dunk with 2:54 and largely silenced a home-state UNC crowd featuring plenty of blue in the Greensboro Coliseum.

Wisconsin 71, Purdue 51 -

Bronson Koenig scored a career-high 19 points and the No. 6 Badgers beat the Boilermakers to advance to the championship game in Chicago.

Wisconsin (30-3) reached 30 wins for the fourth time and can match the school record for victories with a win in Sunday's final against Michigan State.

Michigan State 62, Maryland 58 - Travis Trice scored 20 points, Branden Dawson added 17 points and eight rebounds, and the Spartans rallied to beat the No. 8 Terrapins (27-6).

Tom Izzo's team will try to make it two straight titles and three in four years.

Kentucky 91, Auburn 67 -

Willie Cauley-Stein scored 18 points and Andrew Harrison added 15 for the No. 1 Wildcats, who routed the depleted Tigers in Nashville to run their record to 33-0.

Auburn was missing forwards Jordon Granger and Cinmeon Bowers, who were suspended.

Arkansas 60, Georgia 49 - Michael Qualls scored 15 points and the No. 21 Razorbacks beat the third-seeded Bulldogs.

Second-seeded Arkansas (26-7) will play top-ranked Kentucky in their sixth championship game and first since 2008.

Iowa State 70, Kansas 66 -

Georges Niang scored 19 points, Abdel Nader made the go-ahead foul shots with 48 seconds to go, and the No. 13 Cyclones rallied from a 17-point second-half hole to beat the ninth-ranked Jayhawks in Kansas City, Mo.

It was the fifth straight game that the Cyclones (25-8) rallied from a double-digit deficit, prompting Niang to dub them the "Comeback Kids."

VCU 93, Davidson 73 -

Mo Alie-Cox muscled his way to 18 points inside and Treveon Graham provided the pop from the outside with 18 more, leading the Rams past the No. 24 Wildcats in New York.

The fifth-seeded Rams (25-9) snapped the top-seeded Wildcats' 10-game winning streak.

Dayton 56, Rhode Island 52 - Jordan Sibert scored six points in the final five minutes to help the Flyers slip past the Rams.

The second-seeded Flyers (25-7) play fifth-seeded VCU in the A-10 championship.

E.C. Matthews led third-seeded Rhode Island (22-9) with 16 points. The Rams are likely headed for an NIT bid.

Albany (N.Y.) 51, Stony Brook 50 -

Peter Hooley hit a three-pointer from the top of the key on the final shot of the game, giving the Great Danes the win over the Seawolves in Albany to take the tournament title for the third straight year.

Albany (24-8) is 5-0 in the title game while Stony Brook (23-11) remained winless in four tries.

Univ. of the Sciences 73, St. Anselm 57 -

Garret Kerr, the East Region player of the year, scored a career-high 40 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Devils upset third-seeded St. Anselm in the NCAA East Region quarterfinals in Springfield, Mass.

American International 58, Philadelphia University 53 - The Rams fell to the Yellow Jackets in the opening round of the East Region tournament.

Derek Johnson led the Rams (24-8) with 16 points on 6 of 16 shooting.

Stonehill College 67, Holy Family 60 -

The eighth-seeded Tigers fell to fourth-seeded Skyhawks in a regional semifinal in Garden City, N.Y.

Jill Conroy scored 15 points and Reagan Jewell grabbed 10 rebounds to tie a career high.