NO. 1 KENTUCKY 72, GEORGIA 64
ATHENS, Ga. -- No. 1 Kentucky overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half to keep its perfect season intact, beating Georgia 72-64 on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (30-0, 17-0 SEC) won their previous five games by an average of 24 points.
They were really challenged in this one by Georgia (19-10, 10-7), which had the sellout crowd roaring when Yante Maten tipped in a miss of his own shot to put the Bulldogs up 56-47 with 9 minutes remaining.
But Kentucky showed it knows how to win the close games, too. The Wildcats began pounding the ball inside to 6-foot-11 freshman Karl-Anthony Towns, who managed to stay in the game until the closing seconds after picking up his fourth foul.
Kentucky seized the game with a 14-0 run, and Georgia hurt its chances by missing three consecutive 1-and-1s.
Towns led the Wildcats with 19 points.
Nemanja Djurisic topped Georgia with 18 points, 14 in the first half.
Georgia, using its quickness to offset Kentucky's huge size advantage, had the Wildcats on the ropes after Maten's hustle play capped a 17-4 spurt.
But it was all Kentucky from there, with Towns scoring all but two of his points after halftime.
Kentucky pushed out to its largest lead of the first half at 32-27, taking advantage of a flagrant foul on Kenny Gaines.
But Georgia scored the final five points, the last of them coming on a running floater off the baseline by Djurisic, the ball dropping through the basket as the horn sounded.
Djurisic and the Bulldogs sprinted toward the locker room, tied at 32 and very much in the game. That was a striking change from the first meeting in Lexington, when Kentucky raced out to a 42-27 halftime lead and cruised to an 11-point victory.
In other SEC games Tuesday night, Dorian Finney-Smith scored 12 points before fouling out in the closing minutes, and Florida held on to beat Texas A&M 65-62 despite more free-throw woes. ... Keith Shamburger scored 21 points, tying his season high, and drained a 10-footer with 10.9 seconds remaining on senior night to lift Missouri over Auburn 63-61. ... Stefan Moody scored 25 points, 22 in the second half, and Ladarius White added 19 to help Mississippi beat Alabama 82-74.
TOP 25 MEN
In Top 25 games Tuesday night, Ryan Arcidiacono converted a three-point play to give No. 4 Villanova the lead in the last minute and came up with the game's final rebound, allowing the Wildcats to turn back Creighton's upset bid and win its 11th consecutive game, 76-72. ... Frank Mason III capped one of the biggest comebacks in Allen Fieldhouse history by scoring the last eight points in overtime to lead No. 9 Kansas past No. 20 West Virginia 76-69 for the Jayhawks' 11th consecutive Big 12 championship. ... Dez Wells scored six consecutive points after Rutgers tied the game late in the second half and No. 10 Maryland won its sixth consecutive game 60-50, a much-harder-than-expected victory over the Scarlet Knights. ... Just in time for a rematch with Duke, No. 19 North Carolina established some late-season momentum by beating Georgia Tech 81-49, completing a sweep of the struggling Yellow Jackets. ... D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored 16 points in his return to Indianapolis, helping Georgetown hold on for a 60-54 victory over No. 21 Butler.
Sports on 03/04/2015