BURLINGTON, Vt. – Before tip-off, the hand-lettered sign in Albany’s noisy cheering section seemed like wishful thinking. It turned out to be prescient.

“I’ve seen this movie before. We win,” the sign read.

Albany, which beat Vermont in last year’s America East championship game, did it again Saturday, eking out a 60-59 thriller that came down to the final play.

Jamar Wilson scored 22 points and Jason Siggers added 14 as Albany (23-9) overcame Vermont’s homecourt advantage with a mix of aggressive rebounding, clutch 3-point shooting and poise.

Same teams, same championship game, same result. But it came on Vermont’s home floor, before a sellout crowd in a game with 13 lead changes – eight of them in the second half.

Big 10

Ohio State 63, Purdue 52

CHICAGO – Greg Oden put together a highlight package for NBA scouts and helped No. 1 Ohio State move to the finals of the Big Ten tournament and a step closer to a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

Oden had 17 points, a tournament-record 19 rebounds and four blocks Saturday and the Buckeyes (29-3) pulled away late from scrappy Purdue for a 63-52 victory.

Carl Landry scored 24 points for the Boilermakers, who managed just four baskets in the final 10 minutes – three by Landry – cooling off at the wrong time against the talented Buckeyes.

Purdue (21-11) lost to the Buckeyes for the third time.

No. 3 Wisconsin 53, Illinois 41

CHICAGO – Alando Tucker set the Badgers career scoring record and finished with 21 points to set up a championship matchup with the Buckeyes.

Kammron Taylor scored all but two of his 16 points in the second half for Wisconsin (29-4). Tucker began the day with 2,146 points – one shy of Michael Finley – and set the record on his first attempt.

Big 12

No. 2 Kansas 67, Kansas State 61

OKLAHOMA CITY – Mario Chalmers scored 16 points and the Jayhawks held off a second-half charge from the Wildcats.

Julian Wright added 12 points, including a jumper with 1:05 left that put the game out of reach, and Sherron Collins had 10 points and six assists for the top-seeded Jayhawks (29-4), who advanced to the Big 12 championship game against Texas.

Cartier Martin had 17 points for Kansas State (22-11), which will have to wait until Sunday to see if it made the NCAA tournament.

No. 15 Texas 69, Oklahoma State 64

OKLAHOMA CITY – Kevin Durant scored 26 points and hit the decisive 3-pointer to help Texas hold off Oklahoma State in a Big 12 semifinal, giving the Longhorns the rubber match in the season series.

Playing in front of a partisan Oklahoma State crowd at the Ford Center, Texas (24-8) dealt the Cowboys their first loss in their seven games in the building. A.J. Abrams added 20 points, while D.J. Augustin had 15 points, six assists and three steals.

JamesOn Curry led Oklahoma State (22-12) with 24 points and Mario Boggan added 21, but no other player scored more than four.

SEC

No. 6 Florida 80, Mississippi 59

ATLANTA – Corey Brewer scored 22 points, Lee Humphrey added 17 and the Gators moved a game closer to a three-peat at the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Defending national champion Florida (28-5) jumped out to a quick 11-point lead and was never seriously challenged by the Rebels (20-12), who might have cost themselves a chance to slip into the NCAA field.

Clarence Sanders was the Rebels’ lone player in double figures with 21 points.

Taurean Green added 14 points for Florida, which buried the Rebels by going 10-of-24 from beyond the 3-point arc.

ACC

No. 8 North Carolina 71, Boston College 56

TAMPA, Fla. – Brandan Wright scored 20 points and the top-seeded Tar Heels moved a step closer to its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title in nine years.

Wright made 10 of 12 shots – most of them dunks – and North Carolina (27-6) weathered a Boston College spurt that trimmed a 20-point deficit to nine before pulling away again. Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson scored 10 each and Tyler Hansbrough grabbed 13 rebounds for the Tar Heels.

Sean Marshall led Boston College (20-11) with 23 points. ACC Player of the Year Jared Dudley bounced back from a subpar first half to finish with 20.

Pac-10

No. 16 Oregon 81, Southern California 57

LOS ANGELES – Bryce Taylor scored a career-high 32 points, making every shot he took to lead Oregon past Southern California for the Pac-10 championship.

The Ducks (26-7) head into the NCAA tournament on a six-game winning streak. They haven’t been there since 2003, the last time they won the conference tourney.

Taylor went 11-for-11 from the field, 7-for-7 from 3-point range and 3-for-3 from the line – before being removed with 6 minutes left and the Ducks ahead by 40 points.

Taj Porter, the tourney MVP, added 16 points and Aaron Brooks 15 for the Ducks, who shot 54 percent.

Lodrick Stewart led the Trojans (23-11) with 12 points and Nick Young added 10.

Conference USA

No. 5 Memphis 71, Houston 59

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Chris Douglas-Roberts and Antonio Anderson each scored 17 points and Tigers extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 22 games to wrap up their second straight Conference USA tournament championship.

The Tigers (30-3) became the first Conference USA to go undefeated in the regular season, then win the tournament title.

Oliver Lafayette had 23 points for Houston (18-15), which hadn’t played in a conference tournament championship since 1992. Jahmar Thorpe added 15.

Mountain West

No. 25 UNLV 78, No. 23 Brigham Young 70

LAS VEGAS – The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels raced into their first NCAA tournament in seven years by rallying to beat BYU in the Mountain West championship.

Michael Umeh scored 18 points and Wink Adams 15 as the second-seeded Rebels (28-6) overcame an early double-digit deficit against the top-seeded Cougars (25-8), who got 34 points from Keena Young.

Lon Kruger became the fifth coach to take four teams to the NCAAs.

BYU (25-8), coming off its first outright league title since 1987-88 and owner of the nation’s longest homecourt winning streak at 31 games, has a good shot for an at-large NCAA bid.

Atlantic 10

George Washington 78, Rhode Island 69

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Carl Elliott scored 17 points to help George Washington defeat Rhode Island in the Atlantic 10 final and give the Colonials their third consecutive NCAA bid.

Dokun Akingbade added 15 points for George Washington (23-8), Maureece Rice had 12 and Regis Koundjia 11.

Will Daniels scored a career-high 29 points for Rhode Island (19-14), which was in its first tournament final since 1999.

MEAC

Florida A&M 58, Delaware State 56

RALEIGH, N.C. – Brian Greene’s buzzer-beating layup lifted Florida A&M past Delaware State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship.

Greene finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Rattlers (21-13), who earned their fourth NCAA tournament berth but first since 2004.

Roy Bright had 23 points and Elyon Bush added 10 for top-seeded Delaware State (21-12).

SWAC

Jackson St. 81, Mississippi Valley St. 71

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Trey Johnson scored 33 points to lead Jackson State over Mississippi Valley State in the Southwestern Athletic Conference final.

The win sends the Tigers (21-13) to the NCAA tournament for the first time in seven years.

Carl Lucas led Mississippi Valley (18-15) with 22 points and Tychicus Snow added 15.