Top 25 roundup: Kansas, Kentucky, Duke continue quest to win league tourney titles

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Xavier Henry scored 11 points in a stunning 21-2 run that broke a tight game wide open and carried No. 1 Kansas past No. 23 Texas A&M 79-66 in a rough-and-tumble Big 12 semifinal Friday night.

Texas A&M (23-9) led by as many as nine points early in the second half while the regular-season Big 12 champion Jayhawks (31-2) fouled and fumbled and committed turnover after turnover. But the Aggies, who outplayed Kansas throughout the first half, ran into a sudden field goal drought that lasted more than 8 minutes and Kansas suddenly could hardly miss.

Sherron Collins had six of his 26 points in the big run that made Kansas 16-1 all-time against the Aggies and sent them into the finals against Kansas State.

Donald Sloan, playing in his school-record 136th game, led the Aggies with 24 points.

NO. 2 KENTUCKY 73, ALABAMA 67: At Nashville, Tenn., John Wall had 23 points, including seven straight in the second half to give the Wildcats the lead for good, and Kentucky overcame an 11-point deficit in beating Alabama in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals.

The win gave Kentucky its 12th 30-win season — the most by any school — and the Wildcats' first since 2003 when they went 32-4. It's also the fifth straight such season for John Calipari and seventh overall to tie him with Connecticut's Jim Calhoun for third-most among coaches.

Kentucky (30-2) will play No. 15 Tennessee in the semifinals today looking to add a 26th tournament title to the 44th regular-season championship.

Mikhail Torrance led Alabama (17-15) with 20 points.

NO. 4 DUKE 57, VIRGINIA 46: At Greensboro, N.C., Kyle Singler had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Duke pulled away late to beat pesky Virginia in an Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal.

Nolan Smith added 15 points for the top-seeded Blue Devils (27-5) and Jon Scheyer shook off a rough start to score 15 — including seven during the late 11-0 run that sent them into today's semifinal against 12th-seeded Miami.

Jeff Jones had 15 points and Mike Scott added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers (15-16). They got as close as 46-44 in the final 7 minutes, but went scoreless for nearly 6 minutes and were denied their first semifinal berth since 1995.

NO. 5 OHIO STATE 69, MICHIGAN 68: At Indianapolis, Evan Turner drained a 37-footer at the buzzer to give Ohio State a win over Michigan in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.