NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Kalkbrenner had 32 points and scored the go-ahead basket in the second overtime after Creighton scored the final 11 points in regulation, and the Bluejays held on for an 85-81 victory over DePaul in a Big East Tournament quarterfinal at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

Kalkbrenner scored in the paint to give No. 2 seed Creighton a 77-76 lead and the Bluejays (23-9) never trailed over the final 2:12 against the 10th-seeded Blue Demons (14-19). Creighton advances to play in a Friday semifinal against the winner of the final quarterfinal matchup between No. 3 seed Connecticut and No. 6 Villanova.

Creighton's Fedor Zugic and Steven Ashworth had 3-pointers at both ends of an 11-0 run to end regulation. Ashworth's came with 21 seconds left and forced OT tied at 62.

A Ty Davis layup gave the Bluejays a 72-64 lead with 1:33 left in the first OT. The Blue Demons' Layden Blocker outscored Creighton 9-1 from there and his jumper with one second left forced a second OT tied at 73.

Kalkbrenner also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked five shots for Creighton. Zugic had 13 points off the bench and Ashworth scored 10 before fouling out.

Blocker hit five 3-pointers and scored 25 to lead DePaul. Isaiah Rivera totaled 17 points and nine rebounds. CJ Gunn scored 14 before fouling out.

Rivera had nine points and Gunn scored eight to guide the Blue Demons to a 36-21 lead at halftime.

No. 2 Houston overcomes J'Wan Roberts' ankle injury to beat Colorado 77-69 in Big 12 quarterfinal

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Emanuel Sharpe scored 19 points before fouling out, and No. 2 Houston overcame an injury to veteran forward J'Wan Roberts in the second half to beat Colorado 77-68 on Thursday and advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.

LJ Cryer and Milos Uzan added 14 points apiece for the top-seeded Cougars (28-4), who will play No. 17 BYU — the No. 4 seed in the tournament — on Friday night for a spot in their second consecutive championship game.

Houston's postseason run a year ago was derailed by injuries, so it made sense that the bench tensed up when Roberts went down right in front of it with about 18 minutes to go. The Cougars' leading rebounder was helped to the locker room, where he was diagnosed with a right ankle sprain, and Roberts spent the rest of the game watching from the bench.

Andrej Jakimovski had 25 points for the Buffaloes (14-20), who won twice in the Big 12 tourney as its first No. 16 seed to finish a trying season on a high note. Leading scorer Julian Hammond III managed just nine points on 2-for-13 shooting.

The Cougars, who lost in the Big 12 title game to Iowa State last year, have won 11 consecutive games since losing in overtime to Texas Tech on Feb. 1. That streak includes another win over the Buffaloes in early February.

Takeaways

Colorado lost forward Sebastian Rancik to an injury in the first half. And without another body off the bench, the grind of playing three games in three days was evident as Houston wore the Buffaloes down in the second half.

Houston advanced to its seventh straight conference tournament semifinal. It won the American title in 2021 and '22.

Key moment

Colorado closed within 66-58 with 5 1/3 minutes left when Uzan hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Cougars a cushion.

Key stats

Houston trailed for only 29 seconds in the game.

Up next

The Cougars play BYU in the semifinals. They won their regular-season matchup 86-55 in early January.