UF falls to Miss. St. on late shot
Quinndary Weatherspoon converted a threepoint play with 3.4 seconds left to lift No. 24 Mississippi State over visiting Florida 71-68 on Tuesday night.
Weatherspoon drove the lane and was fouled by Kevarrius Hayes while sinking the winning layup. Weatherspoon finished with nine points.
Lamar Peters scored all 16 of his points in the first half, and Tyson Carter added 12 for Mississippi State (13-3, 1-2 Southeastern Conference).
KeVaughn Allen had 17 points for Florida (9-7, 1-3), and Andrew Nembhard had 13 points. Noah Locke had 12 points for the Gators, who had won eight straight against Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs led 36-34 at halftime and the teams played close throughout the second half.
Allen’s three-pointer with 2:55 remaining put the Gators ahead 66-61, but Aric Holman answered with a 3 on the next possession, and Weatherspoon tied it at 66 with a layup with 1:27 left.
Holman and Locke exchanged baskets in the final 24 seconds before Weatherspoon won it with his three-point play.
The Gators have dropped three of their first four SEC games. The road doesn’t get easier with a road trip to Georgia this weekend.
After losing two closes games to open SEC play, the Bulldogs finally closed out a game thanks to Weatherspoon’s heroics.
No. 3 Tennessee 106, Arkansas 87: Lamonte' Turner and Jordan Bowden combined to score 40 points off the bench, and the host Volunteers (15-1, 4-0 SEC) whipped the Razorbacks (10-6, 1-3) for their 11th consecutive victory.
Turner scored 21 points and hit 6 of 8 shots. Bowden was 6-of-7 shooting and 5 of 6 from 3-point range en route to 19 points, and Tennessee’s bench outscored Arkansas’ 50-23.
Tennessee last won 11 straight in the 2007-08 season. Tennessee is off to its fastest start since that 2007-08 campaign, when the Vols won 16 of their first 17.
Grant Williams scored 18 points for Tennessee and made all 14 of his freethrow attempts. Admiral Schofield scored all 17 of his points in the second half, and Kyle Alexander added 12 points.
Isaiah Joe scored 23 points, Mason Jones had 18, Reggie Chaney 11 and Daniel Gafford 10 for Arkansas.
No. 12 Kentucky 69, Georgia 49: Ashton Hagans silenced a hostile crowd by scoring a seasonhigh 23 points, leading the Wildcats (13-3, 3-1 SEC) to a victory at Georgia (9-7, 1-3).
The Wildcats pulled away in the second half for their third straight victory.
Georgia led by five in the opening minutes before going to the locker room down 35-31.
Hagans took control after halftime. He knocked down a 3-pointer just ahead of the shot-clock buzzer, darted into the lane to lay one in, and scored off a steal by Tyler Herro to suddenly push the lead into double figures, 42-31.
No. 16 Buffalo 88, Western Michigan 79: Jeremy Harris had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and the visiting Bulls (16-1, 4-0 Mid-American Conference) held off the upsetminded Broncos (6-11, 0-4).
Nick Perkins added 14 points for the Bulls, who trailed by 11 in the first half and struggled to shake free of WMU until the very end. Buffalo had won its first three MAC games by a combined 70 points.
The Bulls led by just four toward the end of this one, but star guard CJ Massinburg — who had been scoreless in the second half — connected from 3-point range to make it 86-79 with under 90 seconds remaining.
The Broncos went on a 15-0 run in the first half and led 33-22, but Buffalo rebounded quickly and led 43-39 at halftime.