Jahmai Mashack raced up the court and hit a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc at the buzzer to give No. 5 Tennessee a 79-76 victory over No. 6 Alabama on Saturday.

The Volunteers (24-5, 11-5 SEC) got the final shot by forcing a five-second inbounds violation under Alabama’s basket with 3.8 seconds left.

Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey each scored 18 points for Tennessee. Zakai Zeigler had 15, and Mashack finished with 11.

Mark Sears led Alabama (23-6, 12-4) with 24 points. Labaron Philan had 13, and Aden Holloway added 11.

The win set a program record as eighth of the season over a top-25 opponent for Tennessee, which pulled within a game of Alabama in the conference standings with two games left on the schedule. However, neither can catch No. 1 Auburn (27-2, 15-1), which clinched the conference crown outright with the result after cruising to a 94-78 win at No. 17 Kentucky earlier in the day to guarantee at least a share of the title.

Auburn posted video on X of its players celebrating on the team bus after watching Tennessee’s 3-pointer at the buzzer to win it.

Led by a season-high 30 points from Miles Kelly, Auburn won in Lexington for the first time since a 53-52 triumph over then-No. 1 Kentucky in 1988.

The Wildcats were without third-leading scorer Jaxson Robinson, whom they learned before tipoff would miss the remainder of the season with a wrist injury,

Coach Mark Pope said Robinson, averaging 13.0 points per game, will have surgery this week, with an expected recovery of three months.

St. John’s ‘just getting started’ >> RJ Luis Jr. scored 21 points and No. 7 St. John’s beat Seton Hall 71-61 to clinch its first outright regular-season Big East title since 1985 on Saturday.

The Red Storm (26-4, 17-2) improved to 18-0 at home as they played in front of their third straight sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden and with coach Rick Pitino sporting a white suit for the second straight season.

St. John’s moved the game to MSG after it was initially scheduled to be played on campus but opted not to cut down the nets to celebrate. After finishing off the win, a montage of highlights played while the team was presented with the trophy for clinching the title as confetti was rained and Pitino gave a brief speech thanking the fans and said: “We’re just getting started.”

Houston makes history >> L.J. Cryer scored 20 points and No. 4 Houston clinched the outright Big 12 regular-season title for a second straight season with a 73-64 win over Cincinnati on Saturday.

Terrance Arceneaux added 10 points for Houston (25-4, 17-1 Big 12), which has won eight straight. The Cougars became the first team to win the regular-season championship in its first two years in a major conference since Idaho, which won the PCC in the 1921-22 and 1922-23 seasons. Houston joined the Big 12 in 2023.

NHL

Ovechkin inches closer to record >> Alex Ovechkin scored the 884th goal of his NHL career late in the Washington Capitals’ 3-1 loss to the red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, moving 10 away from tying Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Ovechkin beat fellow Russian Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning with four minutes left in the third period after getting stopped twice by him earlier.

Ovechkin’s 31st goal of the season is his 12th in 22 games against Vasilevskiy. He’s now on pace to break the record in early April. The Capitals visit San Jose on March 15.

Activity ahead of trade deadline >> The Colorado Avalanche made another splash ahead of the NHL trade deadline, and the Central Division rival Minnesota Wild answered with their own addition two hours later.

The Avalanche acquired defenseman Ryan Lindgren and winger Jimmy Vesey from the New York Rangers for a second- and a fourth-round pick, young forward Juuso Parssinen and veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan. They also got the rights to unsigned prospect Hank Kempf.

The Rangers will receive the better of their own or Carolina’s pick in the second round and the better of Carolina’s or Vancouver’s in the fourth round of the draft later this year.

Minnesota got pending free agent winger Gustav Nyquist from Nashville for a 2026 second-round pick. He was scratched from the Predators’ game at the New York Islanders because the wheels were already in motion for the Wild to acquire Nyquist before the deadline for the second time in three years.

Golf

Up-and-down third round >> Jake Knapp survived a wild Saturday at the Cognizant Classic and avoided calamity at the troublesome par-3 15th by making a pair of late birdies for a 3-under 68 and a one-shot lead going into the final round at PGA National.

Knapp, who opened the tournament with a 59, started the third round with a one-shot lead and was trailing by three shots when he made the turn. He holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 16th and finished with a chip-and-putt birdie on the par-5 closing hole to stay in front.

“A little bit all over the place,” said Knapp, who was at 16-under 197.

Right behind was Michael Kim — and nearly two dozen others.

There was so much movement in this captivating third round that 10 players had at least a share of the lead at one point.

Ko takes lead in Singapore >> Lydia Ko shot a 4-under 68 Saturday to move from one stroke behind to one stroke in front after three rounds of the LPGA’s HSBC Women’s World Championship.

The 27-year-old South Korean-born New Zealander had a 54-hole total of 10-under 206 on the Tanjong course at Sentosa Golf Club.

Charley Hull, who birdied two of her first four holes, was a stroke behind in second after a 68. Jeeno Thitikul, who had four back-nine birdies for a 66, had the best round of the day to move into third place, three strokes behind Ko.

A Lim Kim, who led after the first two rounds, moved in the wrong direction with a 73 and was tied for fourth place, four strokes off the lead.