No. 5 Auburn tops South Carolina to win SEC outright

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Jabari Smith scored 21 points, K.D. Johnson had 18 and No. 5 Auburn won the Southeastern Conference title with an 82-71 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

It’s the fourth regular season SEC title for the Tigers (27-4, 15-3 SEC). Auburn players celebrated on the court amid a flurry of orange and blue confetti. The team held at least a share of the SEC lead all season.

Smith made 3 of 3 3-pointers and is 21 of 37 over the last six games, when he’s averaging 25 points. Kessler scored 11 and Wendell Green 10 for the Tigers. Kessler played his second straight game with a brace on his left shoulder from an injury sustained last weekend against Tennessee.

Jermaine Couisnard led South Carolina with 22 points, 16 in the second half. James Reese V scored 18 and Erik Stevenson added 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Gameocks (18-12, 9-9) rallied after trailing by 19 early in the second half.

NO. 2 ARIZONA 89, CALIFORNIA 61

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Oumar Ballo scored 16 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 13 as Arizona became the first Pac-12 team to win 18 conference games.

The Wildcats (28-3, 18-2) finished 17-0 at home in its first season under coach Tommy Lloyd. Pelle Larsson and Justin Kier scored 13 points each.

Cal (12-19, 5-15) played well for stretches but couldn’t recover from a big early Arizona run. Jordan Shepherd led the Bears with 16 points.

NO. 6 KANSAS 70, NO. 21 TEXAS 63, OT

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — David McCormack had 22 points and 10 rebounds and threw down the clinching dunk in overtime as Kansas clinched the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.

Jalen Wilson had 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Christian Braun had 13 points and 11 boards as the Jayhawks (25-6, 14-4) wrapped up at least a share