Buckeyes build on case for berth

Senior Jamar Butler said goodbye to the home crowd with 20 points and Ohio State beat No. 17 Michigan State 63-54 Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, closing out the game with a 15-2 run to enhance its prospects of landing an NCAA tournament berth.

There won’t be a big turnaround to the rematch. The teams meet in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals on Friday.

Othello Hunter added 13 points, including a pivotal one-handed jam of a rebound in the closing minutes, David Lighty scored 12 and Kosta Koufos 11 for the Buckeyes (19-12, 10-8).

Raymar Morgan had 19 points for Michigan State (24-7, 12-6).

Ohio State’s NCAA hopes were considered dead after losing four in a row before pulling off two upsets in the final week of the regular season. The Buckeyes beat No. 15 Purdue 80-75 in overtime on Tuesday night.

Penn St. 68, (18) Indiana 64 (OT): David Jackson tied the game in regulation with a 3-point play and hit a decisive bucket in overtime to help the Nittany Lions (15-15, 7-11 Big Ten) overcome Eric Gordon’s 26 points and upset the Hoosiers (25-6, 14-4) in State College, Pa.

Indiana missed an opportunity to clinch the second seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

(4) Tennessee 89, South Carolina 56: Chris Lofton scored 28 points, including six 3-pointers, and the Volunteers (28-3, 14-2) routed the Gamecocks (13-17, 5-11) in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Vols’ fans engaged in a delayed celebration of Tennessee’s first outright Southeastern Conference championship since 1967, which the team won last week with a win over Florida.

(9) Texas 62, Oklahoma St. 57: D.J. Augustin scored 20 points and the Longhorns (26-5, 13-3) won a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship with a win over the Cowboys (16-14, 7-9) in Austin, Texas.

The win also clinches the No. 1 seed for Texas in the league tournament because the Longhorns beat co-champion Kansas in February.

(13) Connecticut 96, Cincinnati 51: Stanley Robinson scored 18 points and had eight rebounds to lead the Huskies (24-7, 13-5 Big East) to a rout over the Bearcats (13-17, 8-10) in Storrs, Conn.

The game was postponed a day because of the Midwest snowstorm that grounded Cincinnati until Saturday night.

(15) Purdue 72, Michigan 58: E’Twaun Moore and Keaton Grant each scored 17 points as the Boilermakers (24-7, 15-3) put away the host Wolverines (9-21, 5-13) in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Purdue, which had its best season in a decade by winning 14 of the last 16 games, earned sole possession of second place in the final conference game of the regular season.

(20) Drake 79, Illinois St 49: Adam Emmenecker finished with 16 points and six assists, and Jonathan Cox had 20 points to lead the Bulldogs (28-4) to their first Missouri Valley Conference tournament title with a rout of the Redbirds (24-9) at St. Louis.

Drake became the first school to sweep the regular-season and tournament titles since co-champ Creighton in 2002. The Bulldogs’ automatic NCAA berth is the school’s first since 1971 and first postseason bid of any kind since making the NIT field in 1986.

(24) Clemson 70, Virginia Tech 69: Freshman Demontez Stitt hit two free throws with 3.8 seconds left to lift the Tigers (22-8, 10-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) past the Hokies (18-12, 9-7) in Clemson, S.C.

Clemson locked up a third-place finish in the ACC, its best result since winning the regular-season title in 1990 and probably enough to put it in the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade. Virginia Tech fell to fourth in the league, and its NCAA hopes are murky at best.

(25) Davidson 82, UNC Greensboro 52: Stephen Curry had 26 points and the Wildcats (25-6) won their 21st straight game to reach the Southern Conference tournament championship with a victory over the Spartans (19-12) in Charleston, S.C.

The Wildcats own the country’s longest win streak and have taken their past 35 games against SoCon opponents, including this year’s 20-0 romp through the regular season. They’ll look for a title three-peat today against Elon.

Notes

Barry Hinson, who failed to take Missouri State to the NCAA tournament in nine seasons, was fired Sunday, two days after a 63-58 loss to Illinois State in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley tournament. Hinson was 169-117 and produced four NIT berths. His contract calls for a cancellation payment of $150,000, and the contracts for his assistants expire on June 30. … Washington star forward Jon Brockman is questionable for his team’s Pac-10 tournament opener on Wednesday against California. Brockman sprained his ankle in Washington’s double-overtime loss at Washington State on Saturday night and his status has been listed as day-to-day.