Sluggish Kentucky holds off Missouri
NO. 4 KENTUCKY 66, MISSOURI 58
COLUMBIA, Mo. — PJ Washington and Tyler Herro scored 18 points each as fourth-ranked Kentucky slogged past Missouri 66-58 on Tuesday night.
Ashton Hagans added 12 points for the Wildcats (22-4, 11-2 SEC), who looked sluggish three days after beating then top-ranked Tennessee. But Kentucky was good enough defensively to hold the Tigers to 37 percent shooting from the field.
Ronnie Suggs scored 13 and Jordan Geist finished with 11 for Missouri (12-13, 3-10 SEC).
After Missouri took an 1110 advantage with 12:35 left in the first half, Herro scored seven points in a 42-second span to give Kentucky the lead for good. The Tigers got into foul trouble as Kevin Puryear and Jeremiah Tilmon each picked up two quick ones and Mitchell Smith (Van Buren) was knocked out of the game after being hit in the head with an inadvertent elbow. Washington racked up 15 first-half points as the Wildcats opened a 41-23 halftime lead.
Kentucky had some attrition up front, also, as starting forward Reid Travis left the game in the second half with a sprained right knee. Missouri did most of its offensive damage late, narrowing its deficit to six points on Torrence Watson’s three-pointer with 14 seconds left.
NO. 5 TENNESSEE 58, VANDERBILT 46
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Grant Williams had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Tennessee beat Vanderbilt in the Volunteers’ first game since losing their No. 1 ranking.
Tennessee (24-2, 12-1 SEC) bounced back from its first loss since Thanksgiving week, an 86-69 defeat at No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday to snap a school-record 19-game winning streak.
Vanderbilt (9-17, 0-13) dropped its 14th in a row, matching the longest skid in school history. Vanderbilt had a 14-game losing streak that began in the 1934-35 season and carried over to the next season.
NO. 15 PURDUE 48, INDIANA 46
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Matt Haarms tipped in a basket with 3.2 seconds remaining to lift Purdue over Indiana.
Ryan Cline had 11 points, and Haarms finished with six for the Boilermakers (19-7, 12-3 Big Ten), who have won three consecutive at Assembly Hall for the first time in school history.
Indiana’s Romeo Langford scored 14 points despite not taking a shot in the second half, and Juwan Morgan’s three-pointer grazed the rim at the buzzer. Morgan had nine points and 11 rebounds as Indiana (13-13, 4-11) lost its fourth in a row.
NO. 16 FLORIDA STATE 77, CLEMSON 64
CLEMSON, S.C. — Mfiondu Kabengele had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Florida State (21-5, 9-4 ACC) set a program record with its eighth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference victory in a victory over Clemson (15-11, 5-8).
The Seminoles had not won this many consecutive league games since joining the conference before the 1991-92 season. They won 11 straight Metro Conference games in 1977-78.
BAYLOR 73,
NO. 19 IOWA STATE 69
AMES, Iowa — Jared Butler scored 17 points, Freddie Gillespie had 14 and Baylor upset Iowa State.
Makia Mason scored 14 points on 18 shots in his return from a toe injury for the Bears (17-9, 8-5 Big 12). They outrebounded Iowa State 44-28 and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds over the smaller Cyclones (19-7, 8-5), who’ve dropped back-to-back games at Hilton Coliseum.
NO. 24 MARYLAND 66, NO. 21 IOWA 65
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Bruno Fernando scored 11 points, including the last two on a putback with 7.8 seconds left, to lift Maryland (20-7, 11-5 Big Ten) over Iowa (20-6, 9-6).
Maryland gave up an 11-point lead over the final four minutes, but held on against an Iowa team that had won its last two games on buzzer-beaters and had two looks at the basket in the final seven seconds.
NO. 25 BUFFALO 114, OHIO 67
AMHERST, N.Y. — Jayvon Graves scored a career-high 26 points and Buffalo (23-3, 11-2 Mid-American Conference) used a record-setting shooting performance to cruise to a win over Ohio (11-14) for its 23rd consecutive home victory.
CJ Massinburg (23 points), Jeenathan Williams (13 points, eight rebounds) Montell McRae (11 points, seven rebounds) and Graves led the way for the Bulls.
SEC
SOUTH CAROLINA 79, OLE MISS 64
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Chris Silva scored 18 points as South Carolina won its fifth SEC game after trailing by double digits in beating Mississippi.
The Gamecocks (14-12, 9-4 SEC) didn’t trail big for long. After the Rebels took a 13-2 lead in the first four minutes, South Carolina scored 16 consecutive points and wouldn’t trail again.
Terence Davis had 18 points and Breein Tyree added 17 points for Ole Miss.
A.J. Lawson had 15 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists and Hassani Gravett added 15 points and 8 rebounds for South Carolina.
TEXAS A&M 65, ALABAMA 56
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Savion Flagg and Wendell Mitchell scored 18 points each and Texas A&M overcame a 12-point second half deficit to defeat Alabama.
The Aggies (11-14, 4-9 SEC) fought back from the deficit with a big run and the game was tied before they scored the next six points, with four from Christian Mekowulu, to make it 56-50 with about four minutes left. Alabama got within four about a minute later, before a turnover by Dazon Ingram.
Mitchell added a basket for A&M before a dunk by Donta Hall to get Alabama within four again with 1:15 remaining. He was fouled on the shot but missed the free throw. Mitchell made a three-pointer to make it 63-56 with 35 seconds left to secure the victory.
Alabama (15-11, 6-7) got 14 points from Tevin Mack as its skid stretched to a season-long three games.