have rewarded their faithful by adding a Southeastern Conference
tournament title to go with their regular season title.
Two down, one to go?
John Wall scored seven of his 15 points in
overtime, and No. 2 Kentucky rallied from five down with 2:28 left in
regulation to beat Mississippi State 75-74 on Sunday. It was the
Wildcats’ 26th Southeastern Conference tournament championship and gave
them the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament they didn’t need.
The Wildcats (32-2) blew earlier chances with
their fabulous freshmen Wall and DeMarcus Cousins missing free throws
and making youthful mistakes. But they came through over the defending
tourney champs as Cousins’ layup off Wall’s missed 3-pointer from the
right corner beat the regulation buzzer to give them some extra time.
Now Kentucky can celebrate its first SEC
tournament title since 2004, ending an interminable drought for their
fans who now expect another national championship.
Mississippi State (23-11) lost for the second
time to the Wildcats this season after leading late in regulation. The
Bulldogs blew a seven-point lead on Feb. 16, and lost that game 81-75 in
overtime.
This time, the Bulldogs led 62-57 on Ravern
Johnson‘s 3 with 2:28 left. That set up a furious finish to a game that
had gone back and forth from the opening tip.
Barry Stewart, a senior from nearby
Shelbyville, Tenn., hit both free throws with 8.2 seconds left to push
the Bulldogs’ lead to 64-61. He fouled out, sending Eric Bledsoe to the free
throw line. He hit the first, missed the second and Wall’s 3-point
attempt was short. But Cousins put it back, getting the shot off before
the buzzer.
Officials immediately signaled that the shot
counted, and Wall and Cousins slammed to the court near the press table
celebrating with their teammates piling on as if they had won the game.
They finally went back to the bench while officials reviewed the play.
As the Bulldogs slumped and Kentucky
celebrated, overtime seemed destined to go the Wildcats’ way. Even then,
it wasn’t easy.
Bledsoe’s jumper put them ahead to stay at
71-69 with 1:20 left, and Wall’s lone 3-pointer of the game pushed it to
74-71 with 26 seconds remaining. Cousins hit two free throws with 5
seconds to go that wound up the winning margin as Riley Benock hit a 3
just before the buzzer to start the celebration fans had been waiting
for since Calipari was hired last spring.
It was the first time since 1952 that the SEC
championship had been decided by one point.
Bledsoe, another member of Calipari’s first
recruiting class, finished with 18 points. Patrick Patterson had 15, and
Cousins finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Johnson scored 20 points to lead Mississippi
State. Jarvis Varnado added 18 and spent much of the overtime upset at
the lack of foul calls as he tried to drive to the basket. Dee Bost had
16 points, and Stewart added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
This championship had no pretense of being a
neutral court, not with Kentucky fans buying up tickets for this game
even at a cost of up to $400 for a single. The Wildcats faithful filled
up to 85 percent of the arena with blue eager to end their interminable
wait for another tourney title.
But Mississippi State came to this event for a
second straight year knowing the best — and likely only — way of
earning an NCAA tournament trip was by earning the automatic berth. The
Bulldogs did it last year by winning four games in four days, and this
season they had a bye to keep them even more rested for the final.
Kentucky leads the series 86-20 and have won
eight of the last nine. The Wildcats had been even better in this
tournament, going 8-2 with the Bulldogs’ biggest win back in the 1996
finals when they beat Kentucky for their first SEC title.
The Bulldogs blew a chance to beat Kentucky in
Starkville on Feb. 16. The Bulldogs led by seven with 3 minutes left
only to be taken into overtime when Wall scored five of his 18 points to
rally the Wildcats to an 81-75 win. That game was marred near the end
when upset fans threw cups filled with ice and water bottles onto the
court.