Kansas guard Sherron Collins (4) drives past Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen (0) during the first half of the Big 12 tournament championship Saturday in Kansas City, Mo.<br><i>AP?photo</i>

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Marcus Morris had 18 points, Tyrel Reed added 15 and No. 1 Kansas held off No. 9 Kansas State down the stretch for a 72-64 victory and its seventh Big 12 tournament title Saturday night.

Kansas (32-2) labored through a physical, defense-dominated first half and used a small spurt midway through the second to beat its in-state rivals for the third time this season. Coming off a sixth straight regular-season title, the Jayhawks will likely be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament when the brackets are announced Sunday.

Kansas State (26-7) had never beaten Kansas in six tries at the Big 12 tournament and had lost 40 of 42 meetings since 1994.

No. 2 Kentucky 74, No. 15 Tennessee 45 – In Nashville, Tenn., DeMarcus Cousins had 19 points and 15 rebounds, and the Wildcats returned to their accustomed spot in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.

Kentucky (31-2) will play Mississippi State on Sunday, looking to add a 26th tournament title to the 44th regular-season championship the Wildcats won in coach John Calipari’s first season.

Eric Bledsoe had 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range, and John Wall added 14 as Kentucky chases its first tourney title since 2004.

No. 4 Duke 77, Miami 74 – In Greensboro, N.C., Kyle Singler scored 27 points to help Duke push ahead in the second half of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals.

Jon Scheyer added 16 points, including eight in the go-ahead 15-0 run early in the second half that restored some sense of order in an upset-filled tournament. The top-seeded Blue Devils (28-5) trailed by three at halftime against the league’s last-place team before rallying to reach the championship game, where they will defend their title against Georgia Tech.

Miami was in the ACC semifinals for the first time in its history.

No. 5 Ohio State 88, Illinois 81, 2 OT – In Indainapolis, Evan Turner scored 12 of his 31 points after regulation to lead Ohio State. The Big Ten player of the year finished with a triple double – 31 points, 10 rebounds, 10 turnovers.

The Buckeyes (26-7) won their sixth straight and will play for the conference title Sunday against sixth-seeded Minnesota.

Illinois (19-14) was led by Demetri McCamey with 22 points and Mike Davis with 13 points and 18 rebounds. The Illini had two chances to win at the buzzer, but failed to get off shots both times.

Minnesota 69, No. 6 Purdue 42 – In Indianapolis, Minnesota held Purdue to the worst first half in the Boilermakers’ record books and rolled to victory in the Big Ten tournament semifinals.

Ralph Sampson III scored 13 points for the sixth-seeded Golden Gophers (21-12), who reached the final for the first time. They’ll play No. 5 Ohio State on Sunday for the championship.

Minnesota led 37-11 at halftime. It was the fewest points by Purdue in a half since the school started keeping track of the statistic in 1950. Only a late layup by Patrick Bade allowed the Boilermakers to avoid the worst defeat in a Big Ten tournament game.

No. 7 West Virginia 60, No. 22 Georgetown 58 – In New York, Da’Sean Butler’s second game-winner in three days gave West Virginia its first Big East championship.

The senior guard, who banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give West Virginia a quarterfinal win, scored in the lane with 4.2 seconds left and the Mountaineers beat Georgetown.

Third-seeded West Virginia, the only one of the top four seeds to escape the quarterfinals, was making its second championship game appearance. Just like the Mountaineers’ two other wins in this tournament, this one was close and Butler had a lot to do with it.

Butler, who had 20 points for the Mountaineers (27-6), was selected the tournament MVP and there wasn’t much doubt about that.

No. 17 Temple 57, Rhode Island 44 – In Atlantic City, N.J., Ryan Brooks scored 16 points and Temple held Rhode Island to its lowest point total in five years in an Atlantic 10 tournament semifinal.

Sophomore guard Juan Fernandez again ignited the top-seeded Owls (28-5), scoring the first seven points and nine overall in the two-time defending champions’ game-opening 15-2 run. The spurt took the air out of Rhode Island (23-9) and left it in a precarious position for the NCAA tournament heading into Selection Sunday.

The Owls will face Richmond in the final.

Mississippi State 62, No. 20 Vanderbilt 52 – In Nashville, Tenn., Barry Stewart scored 14 points and Mississippi State advanced to its second consecutive Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.

Dee Bost, Phil Turner and Jarvis Varnado each added 11 for Mississippi State, which won four straight games in the 2009 tournament for its first title in seven seasons. The Bulldogs received a first-round bye this time after sharing the SEC West Division crown with Mississippi, a team they beat twice this season.

Richmond 89, No. 24 Xavier 85, OT – In Atlantic City, N.J., Kevin Anderson scored 27 points and David Gonzalvez added 26 in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Anderson hit a layup with 3.1 seconds left in regulation to force the second overtime game between the teams in less than two weeks. Gonzalvez hit a 3-pointer to open the extra five minutes in helping third-seeded Richmond (26-7) reach the conference final for the first time since 2002.

Jordan Crawford had 20 points to lead second-seeded Xavier (24-7), which had an eight-game winning streak snapped.

Houston 81, No. 25 UTEP 73 – In Tulsa, Okla., Kelvin Lewis scored 28 points and Houston surged past UTEP down the stretch to claim its first NCAA tournament berth in 18 years with a victory in the Conference USA tournament title game that snapped the Miners’ 16-game winning streak.

National scoring leader Aubrey Coleman struggled through a 4-for-20 shooting performance for the seventh-seeded Cougars (19-15), but came up with a critical steal and fast-break layup in the final minute as they won their fourth game in as many days.