Three-way tie at top of Big Ten
William Buford made a high-arcing jumper from the top of the key with 1 second left, lifting No. 10 Ohio State to a 72-70 win over host No. 5 Michigan State yesterday, forging a three-way tie for the Big Ten title.
The Buckeyes (25-6, 13-5) earned a share of their third straight conference championship and forced the Spartans (24-7, 13-5) to settle for having a piece of it, along with No. 13 Michigan. The Spartans will be seeded No. 1 in the Big Ten Tournament this week and Michigan No. 2.
Michigan State led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but couldn't put away the Buckeyes.
Buford scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half, giving the Spartans their first loss at home this season.
Jared Sullinger had 14 points and shot 5-for-17 and Deshaun Thomas scored nine of his 12 points in the second half for the Buckeyes.
Michigan 71, Penn St. 65: Trey Burke scored 19 points and No. 13 Michigan (23-8, 13-5 Big Ten) shot 59 percent from the field in State College, Pa. Jermaine Marshall had a career-high 27 points and eight rebounds for Penn State (12-19, 4-14).
Kentucky 74, Florida 59: Freshman Anthony Davis had 22 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks, Terrence Jones 19 points and No. 1 Kentucky (30-1) finished the SEC regular season 16-0. The Wildcats used an 8-0 run in the second half to make it a double-digit lead, and had a 9-0 run later. Patric Young led host No. 16 Florida (22-9, 10-6) with 21 points.
Creighton 83, Illinois St. 79: Doug McDermott had 33 points and Antoine Young scored eight of his 14 in overtime as No. 25 Creighton (28-5) survived an upset bid in the Missouri Valley Conference final in St. Louis. Grant Gibbs added a career-high 20 points for Creighton. The Bluejays were 3-0 against fourth-seeded Illinois State (20-13).
Baron fired at URI
The University of Rhode Island has fired men's basketball coach Jim Baron after 11 years and a 7-24 season. Baron finished his 11-year run with a 184-166 overall record and an 83-93 mark in the Atlantic 10.-- AP
