Form holds in Big 12 semifinals

DALLAS -- The top two teams in the Big 12 during the regular season will battle for the conference championship today.

No. 7 Oklahoma State won for the 16th time in 17 games by beating Texas Tech 82-77 in one conference semifinal Saturday. The Cowboys (26-3), the Big 12 regular season champions for the first time, advanced to their second Big 12 title game.

John Lucas led the Cowboys with 22 points.

No. 11 Texas made a 12-4 run late in the second half to put away Kansas 64-60.

Brandon Mouton scored 10 straight points in the run for the Longhorns (23-6).

In other conference tournament semifinals Saturday:

Shelden Williams had 20 points and 18 rebounds Saturday to lift No. 5 Duke (27-4) past No. 14 Georgia Tech 85-71 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Maryland upset No. 17 North Carolina State 85-82 in the other ACC semifinal. John Gilchrist scored a career-high 30 points for Maryland.

Dee Brown scored 21 points and No. 12 Illinois (24-5) held off Michigan 74-60 to reach the championship game of the Big Ten tournament.

Wisconsin (23-6) edged Michigan State 68-66 in the other semifinal.

Kentucky hammered South Carolina 78-63 and closed in on its 25th Southeastern Conference tournament title. Gerald Fitch came off the bench to score 24 points for the Wildcats (25-4).

Florida (20-9) defeated Vanderbilt 91-69 in the other semifinal.

Winning major conference championships Saturday were Stanford in the Pac-10, Connecticut in the Big East, Cincinnati in Conference-USA and Xavier in the Atlantic 10.