No. 1 Duke clinches 23rd ACC title with 73-62 win over No. 13 Louisville

[ad_1]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Tyrese Proctor scored 19 points on six 3-pointers, Kon Knueppel added 18 points and No. 1 Duke defeated 13th-ranked Louisville 73-62 on Saturday night to clinch its second Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship in three seasons under Jon Scheyer.

It was Duke’s 23rd ACC title overall — the most of any team in conference history — and five more than rival North Carolina, who the Blue Devils knocked off 74-71 in a semifinal thriller.

Sion James added 15 points for Duke (31-3), which played its final two tournament games without ACC player of the year Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown due to injuries.

Terrence Edwards Jr. scored 29 points on five 3s for Louisville (27-7), which was playing in its first ACC final since joining the league in 2014. The Cardinals went 18-2 in the conference play during the regular season under first-year head coach Pat Kelsey after going 5-37 vs. ACC foes in the previous two seasons.

There were nine lead changes and neither team led by more than five before Duke broke the game open with a 12-0 run midway through the second half behind a 3 from Proctor in transition to build a 57-47 lead.

NO. 2 HOUSTON 72, ARIZONA 64

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Milos Uzan poured in 25 points, Emanuel Sharpe added 17 and second-ranked Houston turned up its trademark defense in the final minute to hold on for a victory over Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament championship game.

Playing without injured big man J’Wan Roberts, the Cougars (30-4) took a 64-62 lead on Uzan’s 3-pointer with 5 minutes to go, then suffocated the Wildcats (22-12) down the stretch to avenge a loss to Iowa State in last year’s title game.

Houston romped to the regular-season Big 12 title, winning 19 of 20 games in the expanded league. And it was just as dominant in three game in Kansas City, easily beating Colorado and No. 17 BYU before turning back red-hot Arizona for the trophy.

Caleb Love scored 19 points for the Wildcats. Jaden Bradley had 14 points and KJ…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/no-1-duke-clinches-23rd-030158216.html

Author : The Associated Press

Publish date : 2025-03-16 03:01:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.