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

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.

Duke pulls ahead, wins ACC crown

Duke scored 12 straight points in a decisive second-half run, putting the Blue Devils in the driver’s seat for a 73-62 victory against Louisville in the ACC championship game on Saturday night at Spectrum Center. The Blue Devils (31-3) captured the program’s 23rd ACC championship, and the second in coach Jon Scheyer’s three seasons after taking over for Mike Krzyzewski. Louisville (27-7) led by five at halftime and the teams traded buckets for the first few minutes of the second half.

Akron rallies from 18 down to beat Miami (OH) 76-74 for 2nd straight MAC Tournament championship

Nate Johnson hit a short pull-up jumper with two seconds left and top-seeded Akron rallied from 18 points down to beat Miami (OH) 76-74 Saturday night for a second-straight Mid-American Conference Tournament championship and second-straight berth in the NCAA Tournament. The victory also gave Akron coach John Groce his fourth win in five meetings over his 10-years-younger half-brother, Akron coach Travis Steele. Akron clawed back to cut its deficit to 12 at the break.

No. 6 St. John’s beats Creighton 82-66 for 1st Big East Tournament crown in 25 years

The pied piper of college basketball rebuilds, Rick Pitino has St. John's back atop the Big East. RJ Luis Jr. scored all but two of his 29 points after halftime and No. 6 St. John's made 14 straight shots from the field in the second half to beat Creighton 82-66 on Saturday night for its first Big East Tournament title in 25 years. “Wow, this is incredible just to come from last year to this year and to see the transformation,” Luis said.

Nets drop third straight with tight 115-113 loss to Celtics

NEW YORK (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis scored 24 points in his return from an eight-game absence with an illness, getting 14 in the fourth quarter to help the Boston Celtics hold off the Brooklyn Nets 115-113 on Saturday night.

Payton Pritchard added 22 points and Jayson Tatum had 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Celtics, who seemed headed for an easy night after a 25-7 run to open the second quarter gave them a 21-point lead. The Nets cut it to two in the fourth quarter before Porzingis made some clutch plays in his first game since Feb. 26.

The Celtics rested Derrick White and Al Horford a night after winning in Miami and clinching a playoff spot, then lost Jaylen Brown in the second half after he left with back spasms.

Pritchard, who set the NBA single-season record during the game with his 219th 3-pointer off the bench, made three free throws in the closing seconds.

Cam Johnson scored 23 points and Keon Johnson had 21 for the Nets, who lost for the 10th time in 11 games.

Takeaways

Celtics: Boston relies on the 3-pointer, but having Porzingis man the middle provides a different dimension when the long balls aren’t falling.

Nets: Brooklyn announced Saturday that leading scorer Cam Thomas is expected to miss the rest of the season with a strained left hamstring. Thomas averaged 24 points but was limited to 25 games by the injury he initially sustained in November.

Key moment

Boston’s lead was down to 94-92 with 7:59 to play before Porzingis converted a three-point play and then made his only 3-pointer of the night to push it to 100-92 a minute later.

Key stat

Boston has won eight straight in the regular season in Brooklyn, not losing since April 23, 2021.

Up next

Brooklyn hosts Atlanta on Sunday. The Celtics don’t play again until hosting the Nets on Tuesday night.