Sears’ buzzer-beater gives No. 7 Alabama 93-91 OT win over No. 1 Auburn

By Canadian Press on March 8, 2025.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — 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.

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 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.

NO. 4 TENNESSEE 75, SOUTH CAROLINA 65

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

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.

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 in the regular-season finale for both teams.

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.

NO. 6 ST. JOHN’S 68, NO. 20 MARQUETTE 84, OT

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 in overtime 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).

NO. 9 TEXAS TECH 85, ARIZONA STATE 57

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — JT Toppin had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 9 Texas Tech pulled away from Arizona State for a victory in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Freshman guard Christian Anderson tied a season high with 21 points and made four 3-pointers off the bench for the Red Raiders (24-7, 15-5 Big 12), who set a school record for conference wins.

Toppin, a top contender for Big 12 Player of the Year, had his 14th double-double of the season. Kerwin Walton added 11 points and three 3-pointers for the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech had clinched the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament when Kansas beat Arizona earlier Saturday.

Basheer Jihad equaled a career high with 22 points and Joson Sanon had 16 for the Sun Devils (13-18, 4-16), who have lost 10 of 11.

Anderson’s 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer gave the Red Raiders a 36-32 lead, and they outscored Arizona State 49-25 in the second half.

Toppin had 41 points in the first meeting Feb. 12, when the Red Raiders set a program record for points in a conference game in a 111-106 overtime victory in Lubbock.

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.

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.

NO. 11 CLEMSON 65, VIRGINIA TECH 47

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Viktor Lakhin scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half as No. 11 Clemson opened a double-digit lead and beat Virginia Tech for the program’s record-tying 26th victory of the season.

The Tigers (26-5, 18-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) matched a mark set by the 1990 team led by Dale Davis and Elden Campbell, who won Clemson’s only ACC regular-season crown.

These Tigers are playing every bit as good as that squad, winning their seventh straight game and heading into next week’s ACC Tournament as a top-four seed.

Lakhin, the 6-foot-11 transfer from Cincinnati, was dominant inside against the Hokies (13-18, 8-12), making six of his nine first-half shots as Clemson led 35-20 at the break.

Brandon Rechsteiner led the Hokies with 11 points.

PENN ST. 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 a victory over No. 12 Wisconsin, 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.

NO. 13 MARYLAND 74, NORTHWESTERN 61

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Julian Reese had 19 points and 11 rebounds in his home finale, and No. 13 Maryland pulled away late for a victory over Northwestern.

The Terrapins (24-7, 14-6 Big Ten) had a sluggish day offensively but did enough to win for the seventh time in eight games — with the only defeat coming on a 65-foot shot at the buzzer against Michigan State late last month.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 17 points for the Terps, and Derik Queen added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Maryland snapped a three-game skid against Northwestern, which included an overtime loss to the Wildcats in January.

Nick Martinell scored 28 points for Northwestern (16-15, 7-13), which is still likely to reach the Big Ten Tournament despite the loss.

The Wildcats led for a good deal of the first half and were up 42-41 in the second before being outplayed down the stretch.

NO. 14 LOUISVILLE 68, STANFORD 48

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Terrence Edwards Jr. and Chucky Hepburn scored 16 points apiece, and No. 14 Louisville ended the regular season with a victory over Stanford.

The Cardinals (25-6, 18-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) used their defense to earn their ninth straight victory and 19th in 20 games. Stanford went nearly eight minutes between baskets, missing 11 shots in a row. That allowed Louisville to go on a 14-1 run and take a 29-11 lead after Hepburn’s layup with 5:04 left before halftime.

J’Vonne Hadley added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals, who played without starting guard and third-leading scorer Reyne Smith (ankle).

Maxime Raynaud recorded his 23rd double-double for the Cardinal (19-12, 11-9), scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

NO. 19 KENTUCKY 91, NO. 15 MISSOURI 83

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Otega Oweh scored 22 points, and Andrew Carr added 16 points and 12 rebounds to help No. 19 Kentucky beat No. 15 Missouri.

Koby Brea scored 17 points and Amari Williams added 14 points and eight rebounds to help Kentucky (21-10, 10-8 Southeastern Conference) win its second game in a row.

Mark Mitchell scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and Marques Warrick scored 17 points for Missouri (21-10, 10-8), which has lost three straight games for the first time this season.

Missouri guard Tony Perkins left the game with an injury and did not return after getting bumped by Oweh and stumbling on an offensive possession with 10:02 remaining in the second half.

Missouri coach Dennis Gates said after the game that Perkins could have returned and the decision not to put him back in was mostly a result of him liking how Warrick was playing.

NO. 22 TEXAS A&M 66, LSU 52

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Wade Taylor IV scored 17 points to become Texas A&M’s all-time scoring leader as the 22nd-ranked Aggies beat LSU in the SEC regular-season finale for both teams.

The Aggies (22-9, 11-7 Southeastern) were coming off Tuesday’s home upset of No. 1 Auburn.

Taylor has amassed 1,999 points in his four seasons with the Aggies, surpassing Bernard King, who scored 1,990 from 1999-2003.

Texas A&M, the nation’s leading offensive rebounding team, went to work in the second half when it converted 10 offensive rebounds into 10 points. The Aggies finished with 14 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points.

Jordan Sears led LSU (14-17, 3-15) with 21 points.

KANSAS 83, NO. 24 ARIZONA 76

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Hunter Dickinson matched a career high with 33 points to lead Kansas past No. 24 Arizona.

Zeke Mayo drilled five three-pointers and had 20 points while KJ Adams Jr. scored 12, including three dunks while the Jayhawks (20-11, 11-9 Big 12) built a 14-point first-half lead.

The Wildcats (20-11, 14-6) rallied for a brief lead before Dickinson took over, scoring 16 in the first half on 8-of-9 shooting, giving the Jayhawks a 39-30 halftime advantage.

Dickinson grabbed 10 rebounds for his 15th double-double of the year. He was 15 of 23 from the floor.

Jaden Bradley led Arizona with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and made all seven of his free-throw attempts.

ARKANSAS 93, NO. 25 MISSISSIPPI ST. 92

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Jonas Aidoo made one of two free throws with 11 seconds left to break a tie game and No. 25 Mississippi State missed two potential game-winning shots at the rim at the other end to close out Arkansas’ victory.

Mississippi State (20-11, 8-10 Southeastern Conference) used a 12-0 run to go up by one point with 3:14 to play, its first lead since before halftime. Arkansas (19-12, 8-10), which led by one at the break, opened the second half on a 10-run.

DJ Wagner, who scored a game-high 24 points, gave the Razorbacks a three-point lead on a 3-pointer with 44 seconds left. But Jonathan Hubbard countered, hitting a 3-pointer for the Bulldogs just 10 seconds later to set up the frantic finish.

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The Associated Press

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