College basketball

SEC men: Wildcats withstand comeback

LEXINGTON, Ky. - As he addressed the fans who remained at Rupp Arena to listen to his postgame radio show, Kentucky coach Tubby Smith offered an apology for his team's poor play.

Smith no doubt was grateful he wasn't apologizing for a loss by his No. 5 Wildcats, who held off a late run by undermanned Georgia for a 60-51 victory on Saturday.

Chuck Hayes and Patrick Sparks each scored 14 points for Kentucky, which led by 21 in the second half before weathering the Georgia comeback.

The Bulldogs got within 55-50 with 2:04 left and came up empty on two other chances to further cut into the margin.

Rajon Rondo made a 5-foot jumper and Kelenna Azubuike hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 26 seconds to seal Kentucky's ninth consecutive win since a loss to No. 3 Kansas. Kentucky has 19 straight SEC victories.

"We just beat Georgia by (nine)," Hayes said, shaking his head. "We're not as good as we think we are."

Georgia, which started four freshmen and a sophomore and played without injured leading scorer Levi Stukes, lost its sixth straight. The Bulldogs outrebounded Kentucky 37-29, but committed 18 turnovers and made only 10-of-22 free throws.

Smith said if Georgia had made more free throws, "we would be sitting here trying to explain a loss."

An 11-1 run to start the second half pushed Kentucky's lead to 40-21, and the Wildcats led 46-25 with 12 minutes left before Georgia rallied again.

NO. 17 ALABAMA 71, MISSISSIPPI 45: Kennedy Winston scored 22 and the host Crimson Tide used full-court pressure to spark a late surge, turning a comfortable lead into a rout.

"They tried to take us out of our offense," Alabama's Earnest Shelton said. "They tried to pass nine or 10 times and slow the game down. Our press was to speed the game up and make them play more our tempo."

Once that happened, the Tide went on a late 16-2 run to take a two-game lead over LSU in the West.

Alabama pushed its lead to 15 five times in the first 10 minutes of the second half, with the Rebels keeping the game from getting ugly by maintaining their favored slow pace.

ARKANSAS 65, LSU 62: Jonathon Modica scored a season-high 25 points and the host Razorbacks survived a 3-point shot at the buzzer and avenged a controversial overtime loss at Baton Rouge. Antonio Hudson missed a long jumper off the front rim for the Tigers, who beat Arkansas in overtime Jan. 19 at Baton Rouge after a Razorback basket with 1.8 seconds left was judged to be a 2-pointer instead of a 3.

AUBURN 74, S. CAROLINA 71: Toney Douglas scored 22 and Quinnel Brown had 19 points and 13 rebounds to lead the visiting Tigers, who hit 11-of-21 3-pointers, including four each by Douglas and Ian Young. Douglas hit a 3 and Brown hit two in a row to key a 13-2 run in the beginning of the second half, and Auburn took a 46-35 lead on Douglas' two free throws with 16:43 left.

MISSISSIPPI ST. 60, VANDERBILT 54: Shane Power had 16 points to lead the Bulldogs to their 12th straight home win. Mississippi State never trailed, but squandered a 15-point lead before shutting down the league's best 3-point shooting team in the final minutes.

[Last modified February 13, 2005, 01:08:17]