ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Cardell Butler made four free throws in the final seconds and scored 17 points to lead Utah State to a 57-54 victory over Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo in the Big West Conference tournament championship Saturday night.

The third-seeded Aggies (24-8), who won the tournament for the third time in four years, will enter the NCAA tournament with a five-game winning streak.

Butler was fouled by Steve Geary with 15.1 seconds to go and made both ends in the one-and-one situation to give Utah State a 55-52 lead.

Cal Poly's Jason Allen made two free throws to make it 55-54 with 10 seconds left. But Butler responded with two more foul shots with 8.1 seconds to go. Allen's 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left missed.

Utah State's Desmond Penigar added 13 points and won the tournament's most valuable player award. Spencer Nelson added 11 rebounds and nine points.

Allen led all scorers with 21 points and Varnie Dennis had 19 points for the fourth-seeded Mustangs (16-14).

Butler, Allen and Dennis join Penigar on the all-tournament team, which included Utah State's Mark Brown and UC Irvine's Mike Hood.

BOSTON (AP) -- David Hehn hit a 10-foot jumper with 5.6 seconds left to give Vermont a 56-55 win over Boston University in the America East finals and its first NCAA tournament bid.

Matt Sheftic scored 23 points to lead the Catamounts (21-11), who became the league's first No. 2 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the tournament title game.

Chaz Carr came up short on a 3-pointer as time expired for the Terriers, last year's tournament champions. About 700 Vermont fans who made the trip down to Boston rushed the court to celebrate.

After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, BU tied the game at 52 on Rashad Bell's putback with 4:47 left. Ryan Butt put BU ahead 55-54 by hitting a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 3:15 left.

The Terriers (20-10) maintained that lead and had the ball with 40 seconds left, but Paul Seymour turned it over on a travel.

After Vermont called timeout, Hehn drove on the right side with the shot clock winding down and hit a tough shot over the smaller Carr.

Seymour scored 16 points to lead BU, and Jason Grochowalski added 11.

Germain Njila scored 12 points for the Catamounts.

The first two rounds of the tournament were played at Walter Brown Arena, the hockey rink on Boston University's campus. The championship game was upstairs in Case Gym, where the Terriers play their regular-season games.

After BU scored the game's opening basket, Vermont broke off a 16-0 run to grab a 14-point lead with 12:21 left in the first half. The Terriers shot just 26.9 percent and were outrebounded 22-12 in the first half, but managed to cut the Catamounts' lead to 30-22 by halftime.

Seymour single-handedly brought BU back to 34-33 with 15:48 left, scoring all of his team's points in an 11-4 run.

Vermont pushed the lead back to 43-36, but BU took its first lead since the first basket with an 11-2 spurt -- capped by Butt's putback that gave the Terriers a 47-45 advantage with 8:15 to go.

The top two seeds have reached the championship game 11 times in the 21-year history of the conference. The top seed won the first 10 meetings.

The only other time Vermont even made it to the title game was 1990, when it lost to BU 75-57 at the Hartford Civic Center.

The teams split their two regular-season meetings.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Dante Swanson scored 23 points and Kevin Johnson added 18 as Tulsa beat Nevada 75-64 Saturday night to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament, giving the Golden Hurricane their third trip to the NCAA tournament in four seasons.

The tournament bid salvages a season for Tulsa (22-9) that seemed ruined a month ago after three consecutive losses dropped its record to 11-7. Since then, Tulsa has won 11 of 13 games.

Swanson scored 14 points in a 21-3 first-half run when Tulsa erased a nine-point Nevada lead and made it 35-26 with 2:23 left in the period. The Golden Hurricane, who lost the previous three championship games, never trailed again. When the game was over, fans rushed the floor chanting "NCAA! NCAA!"

Terrance Green led Nevada (18-13) with 16 points, and Kirk Snyder had 14. The Wolf Pack missed an opportunity to get their first NCAA tournament berth since 1985.

The Golden Hurricane lost to Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA tournament last year.

Johnson, the tournament MVP, scored two close-in baskets to start a 7-0 run early in the second half that expanded Tulsa's lead from four points to 13. His basket with 8:05 remaining gave the Golden Hurricane their biggest lead at 57-40.

Jarius Glenn added 15 points and 13 rebounds for Tulsa.

Tulsa was helped this year by the absence of regular season champion Fresno State.

The Bulldogs were declared ineligible after disqualifying themselves from both the NCAA and NIT tournaments because of academic fraud by former players.

Nevada led 23-14 midway through the first half after hitting five-3-pointers, two each by Green and Jerry Petty, during a 19-7 surge.

Tulsa, led by two 3s and two layups by Swanson, then took control with a 21-3 spurt spanning nearly seven minutes. Tulsa led 36-30 at the half.

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Chris Kaman scored 25 points and T.J. Meerman added 16 as Central Michigan defeated Kent State 77-67 to win the Mid-American Conference title Saturday night and earn its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1987.

Kaman, the MAC player of the year, added 13 rebounds for Central Michigan (24-6), which blew the game open with a 16-2 run to open the second half.

The Chippewas, who finished 9-19 a year ago, were picked to finish sixth before the season started. But after winning the MAC West title, they added their first tournament crown since Dan Majerle led them in 1987.

Majerle, one of the NBA's best outside shooters, would love this group.

The Chippewas made eight 3-pointers, including three during their decisive second-half spurt. And while protecting their double-digit lead they went to Kaman, the tourney's MVP, whenever they needed a basket.

Kaman added five assists and four blocks, showing why many think he'll be an NBA lottery pick.

Antonio Gates scored 20 points and Anthony Wilkins had 19 for Kent State (21-9), the two-time defending tournament champion. The Golden Flashes had won their last eight games in the MAC tournament.

Central Michigan came to Gund Arena 0-3 in the tournament but evened its record and left with the trophy, and more importantly, the MAC's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament's 65-team field.

Chippewas coach Jay Smith also snapped an 0-7 slide against Kent State.

J.R. Wallace added 15 points and Mike Manciel 14 for Central Michigan.

Kaman picked up his third personal foul just 18 seconds after halftime, providing a moment of hope for Kent State, which had no answer underneath for the 7-foot junior center. But with their big man in foul trouble, Central Michigan's guards stepped up.

Meerman drained a pair of 3-pointers and Wallace hit another long-range jumper to give the Chippewas a 48-33 lead with 16:28 to play.

Wallace's steal led to a layup for Meerman, and Tony Bowne's basket capped Central's 16-2 run that made it 53-33 with 15:33 left.

Kent State crept within eight points in the final two minutes, but Central Michigan closed it out by making 11 of 12 free throws in the final 1:12.

Kent State opened the game just 2-for-13 from the field, rushing some outside shots and having a few inside shots altered by Kaman.

Meerman's 3-pointer gave Central Michigan a 23-14 lead, and with the Golden Flashes struggling on the offensive end, Kent State appeared to be in big trouble.

But Eric Haut hit a 3-pointer and Kent closed to 29-27 before Wallace made a pair of 3s in the final 2:26 as Central Michigan went ahead 37-31 at halftime.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Thurman Zimmerman scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half, helping South Carolina State rally to end Hampton's two-year reign as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament champion with a 72-67 victory Saturday.

The Bulldogs will make their fifth NCAA tournament appearance and first since 2000.

Top-seeded South Carolina State (20-10) trailed 26-6 after just 7:26 and had nine turnovers in the first 10 minutes, then started taking better care of the basketball and pounding it inside for easy baskets and free throws.

Hampton (19-11), which also blew a huge first-half lead in losing at South Carolina State during the regular season, lost its last lead when Zimmerman made two free throws to give the Bulldogs a 58-57 lead with 5:36 left.

South Carolina State made 11 straight free throws to take the lead, and Zimmerman made two more after the Pirates closed to 67-65 in the final minute. Donald Didlake hit two free throws for Hampton with 14.3 seconds left to make it 69-67, but Moses Malone Jr. swished in a pair for the Bulldogs with 12.5 seconds left to seal it.

Hampton had won the last two MEAC tournaments under then-coach Steve Merfeld, but he left after last season to take over at Evansville, and the third-seeded Pirates made this run under first-year coach Bobby Collins.

Dustin Braddick led South Carolina State with 25 points.

Devin Green led Hampton with 20 points, Barry Hairston had 18 and Isaac Jefferson 16. The Pirates hit only 12 of their last 35 shots.

Hampton hit 11 of its first 14 shots, four of them 3-pointers, and quickly led 26-6.

But the Bulldogs closed the first half on a 24-12 run to trail 38-30 at halftime, then kept climbing closer in the second half. Braddick made a free throw with 9:50 to play, giving the Bulldogs a 50-49 lead.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Allan Lovett scored 23 points and Ra'Kim Hollis had 18 points and nine assists as Texas Southern beat Alcorn State 77-68 to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference title Saturday.

The Tigers (18-12), who went to the NCAA tournament in 1990, '94 and '95, also got 12 points from Lionel Willis.

Brian Jackson had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead Alcorn State (14-19), last year's conference champion. Tori Harris added 19 points and seven rebounds, and Jason Cable and DeAndre Jones had 10 points apiece.

Texas Southern used a nine-point run in the first half to take control and led 40-30 at the break.

Jones hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to 71-66 with one minute to play, but the Tigers shot 6-of-10 from the foul line in the final minute to seal the victory.

The Braves shot 33 percent for the game, including 6-of-30 from 3-point range. Texas Southern hit 51 percent of its shots.

It was the final game for Alcorn State coach Davey Whitney, who won 12 SWAC titles during his 27-year career.