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Virginia wins first ACC tournament title since 1976

Virginia claimed its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title since 1976 on Sunday by beating No. 7 Duke, 72-63, in the final in Greensboro, N.C., and later were awarded the top seed in the NCAA Tournament East Regional.

Malcolm Brogdon scored 23 points, and tournament MVP Joe Harris added 15, including a backbreaking 3-pointer with just under two minutes remaining for the top-seeded Cavaliers.

Playing in front of a raucous — and mostly orange-clad — crowd, Virginia (28-6) used a late 12-3 run to pull away and claim the second ACC tournament title in school history.

‘‘We were kind of joking around when we came in — we were asking, ‘Where are all of the Duke fans?’ ’’ Harris said. ‘‘All we could see was orange when we were driving over here . . . The city of Charlottesville definitely deserves an ACC tournament title.’’

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Jabari Parker scored 23 points on 9-of-24 shooting for Duke (26-8), which was making its 31st appearance in the championship game but was denied an ACC-record 20th title.

SEC final — Top-ranked Florida capped a perfect run through the conference when Kentucky failed to get off a shot on its final possession, allowing the Gators (32-2) to escape with a 61-60 victory in Atlanta. Florida built a 16-point lead early in the second half, but Kentucky nearly pulled off an improbable comeback to hand the Gators their first loss since early December. Two missed free throws gave the Wildcats (24-10) a final possession, but James Young slipped trying to drive into the lane.

Big Ten final — Adreian Payne scored 18 points and Gary Harris and Branden Dawson added 15 each to lead No. 22 Michigan State (26-8) to its second Big Ten tournament title in three years with a 69-55 upset of No. 8 Michigan (25-8) in Indianapolis. Top-seeded Michigan (25-8) was led by Big Ten player of the year Nik Stauskas with 17 points and Derrick Walton Jr. had 11, but the regular-season champs had their seven-game winning streak come to an end.

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Atlantic 10 final — Langston Galloway scored 19 points and Saint Joseph’s (24-9) beat No. 23 VCU, 65-61, to win its first Atlantic 10 tournament title since 1997. The second-seeded Rams (26-8) have reached the A-10 tourney final in both years in the league, but lost both times.

Sun Belt final — Xavian Rimmer scored a career-high 27 points, and Louisiana-Lafayette (23-11) rallied from a 9-point deficit in the last three minutes of regulation to beat Georgia State, 82-81, in overtime in New Orleans to earn an automatic bid to its first NCAA Tournament since 2005.

NCAA Div. 2 second round — Tylon Smith (game-high 21 points) hit a layup with two seconds remaining to give Southern Connecticut (29-2) a 79-77 win over Franklin Pierce (21-8) in New Haven . . . Also in New Haven, Dominic Borelli had 16 points and 14 rebounds in 33 minutes off the bench as Saint Anselm (22-7) rolled past Bloomfield, 82-68. Marvin Williams scored a game-high 25 points for the Deacons (21-9).