Villanova spoils McNamara’s finale

Syracuse fans came in record numbers Sunday to celebrate the career of Gerry McNamara. Then the Villanova Wildcats put a damper on their day.

Allan Ray scored 28 points, Randy Foye had 21 and No. 4 Villanova beat Syracuse 92-82 in McNamara’s final regular-season home game.

The win earned the Wildcats a tie for the conference title with Connecticut and a second seed in the Big East tournament. Syracuse, which has won just three times in its last 13 games, will play Cincinnati on Wednesday in a game with big NCAA tournament implications.

McNamarawas treated as royalty by the sellout crowd of 33,633, an NCAA on-campus record. The fans didn’t get the ending they wanted, despite a game-high 29 points and eight assists by McNamara in his 130th straight start, tops in the nation.

(6) Texas 72, (19) Oklahoma 48: At Austin, Texas, Daniel Gibson scored 22 points and the Longhorns won a share of its first Big 12 title since 1999 with a win over the Sooners. Texas also secured a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.

(9) Ohio State 76, Purdue 57: At Columbus, Ohio, after waiting 14 years for an outright Big Ten title, Ohio State’s fans had to wait until the second half to start their celebration. Terence Dials scored 20 points and the Buckeyes broke the game open with a 14-2 blitz to start the second half.

(17) Florida 79, Kentucky 64: At Lexington, Ky., Joakim Noah had 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead Florida, giving the Gators a fourth straight win over the Wildcats for the first time in the 79-year history of the series.

Conf. Championships

Southern Illinois 59, Bradley 46: At St. Louis, Randal Falker’s

Southern Illinois clinched its fifth consecutive NCAA tournament berth, defeating Bradley 59-46 for the Missouri Valley tournament championship. … Davidson defeated Chattanooga 80-55 to win the Southern Conference tournament.