Southeastern Conference Tournament Recaps

Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) – Patric Young had 16 points, Scottie Wilbekin scored 14 and top-ranked Florida came back to beat Tennessee 56-49 on Saturday to advance to the final of the SEC Tournament.

Casey Prather added 12 points for Florida (31-2), which stretched its school- record winning streak to 25 games but not without another poor start.

Wilbekin’s 3-pointer at the end of the first half cut a 10-point deficit to 35-28. The Gators then outscored the Volunteers 28-14 in the second half to set up a meeting with rival Kentucky in Sunday’s final.

On Friday, Florida was tied with Missouri at halftime before outscoring the Tigers 43-20 the rest of the way.

Jordan McRae scored 15 points to lead the fourth-seeded Volunteers (21-12), who had a five-game winning streak snapped. Jarnell Stokes added 13 points in the loss and Jeronne Maymon had 10.

McRae’s 3-pointer with 2:48 remaining was Tennessee’s only field goal in the last 12:15 of the game.

“We just tried to play harder,” said Wilbekin. “We were doing the same things. We didn’t really switch up anything. We just tried to go into an extra gear and turn it up a little bit.”

Tennessee never led after Michael Frazier II hit a 3-pointer to give Florida a 45-43 lead with under nine minutes to play, ending a 7-0 Gators run.

The Gators hung on down the stretch, taking a 53-49 lead with 1:21 left when Prather made both free throws after Tennessee’s Antonio Barton grabbed him around the waist to prevent a fast-break layup, drawing a Flagrant-1 foul.

Florida got the ball back, but play was stopped for several minutes after Barton went to the floor on a Wilbekin elbow to the face. Officials looked to see if Wilbekin’s elbow made contact as he swung it to gain position near the 3-point line — it grazed Barton’s face.

Tennessee got possession, but didn’t score, and Wilbekin’s free throw with 14 seconds remaining made it a two-possession game.

“We feel like we came into the game ready to win,” said Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin. “We just came up short. (We are) the two best defensive teams in the league, and they made the plays down the stretch.”

Florida, the first team to go unbeaten in an 18-game SEC season, has now won all 20 of its games against conference opponents this season. Its last loss came Dec. 2 at Connecticut.

The Gators held the Volunteers to 25 percent shooting in the second half.

Tennessee used a 10-3 run in the first half to take a 21-14 lead. McRae had 10 points in the half to lead Tennessee and Wilbekin scored 13 for Florida.

Game Notes

Florida lost to Marshall Henderson and Ole Miss in last year’s SEC final … The Gators were out-rebounded 30-24 … Maymon had a game-high nine rebounds … Florida shot 47.7 percent and the Volunteers shot 41.3 percent.

Final Score: Kentucky 70, Georgia 58

Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) – Aaron Harrison scored 22 points and led a blistering display by Kentucky from the perimeter which carried the Wildcats to a 70-58 victory over Georgia in the second semifinal of the SEC Tournament.

Harrison drained 4-of-7 attempts from 3-point range and the Wildcats finished 9-of-16 from beyond the arc in a game they led from start to finish.

The win sets up a clash between the conference’s top two teams in Sunday’s final, with top-ranked Florida advancing earlier in the day with a hard-earned 56-49 decision over Tennessee.

Kentucky (24-9) got strong contributions from the other members of its heralded freshman class as well. James Young added 14 points on a 6-of-8 success rate from the field, Julius Randle tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds and Andrew Harrison — Aaron’s twin brother — logged 12 points and nine assists.

Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann netted 13 and 12 points, respectively, in the loss, which likely put an end to third-seeded Georgia’s (19-13) NCAA Tournament hopes.

Fresh off Friday’s 85-67 blasting of LSU in the quarterfinals, Kentucky got off to a roaring start in this one as well. Young sank two 3-pointers to lead a 12-2 game-opening run, and Aaron Harrison buried one of his own around six minutes in to stake the Wildcats to an early 17-7 advantage.

The lead remained at 10 with six minutes to go in the half after Aaron Harrison knocked down another trey to make the score 28-18, but Georgia closed out the period on a strong note to close the gap. The Bulldogs went on a 9-3 burst following the basket to cut their deficit to four, and went into the break trailing by a 36-32 count when Cameron Forte found Marcus Thornton underneath for a buzzer-beating layup.

A Gaines layup with just over 15 minutes left pulled the Bulldogs within two at 41-39, but Kentucky began to separate shortly afterward behind a key 10-2 surge.

Another Aaron Harrison three preceded a Young putback that restored a double- digit margin for the Wildcats with under 12 minutes to go. After Gaines countered with a successful jumper, Randle converted a 3-point play with 9:23 to go for a 56-45 lead.

Up by eight with eight minutes remaining, the Wildcats put the game away with a 12-4 sequence. Andrew Harrison accounted for eight points during the flurry, which Young capped with a demoralizing dunk that put Kentucky up 68-52 with 2:13 left to play.

Categorized in: NCAA Basketball