STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Top-ranked Kentucky fought off a slow start to cruise to a 74-56 victory over Mississippi State on Wednesday night to keep its undefeated season on track.
Trey Lyles scored a career-high 18 points and Aaron Harrison added 16 for Kentucky (28-0, 15-0 Southeastern Conference), the last remaining undefeated team in the country.
Its 28 straight wins are the most in a single season in program history.
The Wildcats had to work a little for this one, leading just 41-37 with 15:10 remaining. But they responded with an avalanche of points down the stretch -- punctuated by a thunderous dunk by Karl-Anthony Towns -- to turn the contest into another convincing blowout.
Mississippi State (12-16, 5-10) has lost eight in a row to the Wildcats. Fred Thomas led the Bulldogs with 14 points.
Georgia 76, Ole Miss 72
OXFORD, Miss. -- Kenny Gaines scored 22 points and Marcus Thornton added 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead Georgia.
Georgia (18-9, 9-6 SEC) shot 37 percent from the field (23-of-62) and hit 11-of-23 three-pointers. Nemanja Djurisic scored 17 points.
Ole Miss (19-9, 10-5 SEC) struggled from the field, particularly beyond the arc. The Rebels were 0-for-7 on three-point attempts in the first half, 6-of-29 for the game.
No. 2 Virginia 70
Wake Forest 34
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Anthony Gill scored 11 points and Virginia routed Wake Forest for its seventh-straight win.
Darion Atkins added 10 points to help the short-handed Cavaliers (26-1, 14-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) score their most points since they beat Miami 89-80 in double overtime on Jan. 3.
The ACC leaders shot 50 percent, led by 38 and held Wake Forest to 15 points in the first half and a season-worst 22 percent shooting.
Dinos Mitoglou had 10 points for the Demon Deacons (12-16, 4-11), who took their most lopsided loss of the year.
Virginia played without two injured starters -- Justin Anderson and London Perrantes -- but had no trouble with rebuilding Wake Forest, which became the fifth Virginia opponent in six games to fail to reach 50 points.
No. 4 Duke 91
Virginia Tech 86, OT
BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Jahlil Okafor scored a career-best 30 points, including four in overtime, and No. 4 Duke beat Virginia Tech for the Blue Devils' eighth-straight victory.
Okafor also grabbed nine rebounds and showed no ill effects of the sprained left ankle that caused him to miss the Blue Devils' last game. Quinn Cook added 26 points and Justise Winslow had 15 for Duke (25-3, 12-3 Atlantic Coast Conference).
Jalen Hudson scored a career-high 23 points for Virginia Tech (10-18, 2-13), but missed a layup in the final seconds of regulation that could have given the Hokies their first victory against a ranked team in more than two years.
Adam Smith added 15 points for the Hokies and Devin Wilson had 10 points and 11 assists.
No. 10 Northern Iowa 68
Evansville 57
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Deon Mitchell scored 17 points and No. 10 Northern Iowa beat Evansville, setting up a showdown with 11th-ranked Wichita State for the Missouri Valley title.
Paul Jesperson added 11 points for the Panthers (27-2, 16-1 MVC), who are tied with the Shockers atop the conference. The two teams will meet Saturday in Wichita, Kan., for the regular-season championship and the top spot in the league tournament.
D.J. Balentine had 16 points to lead Evansville (19-10, 9-8).
No. 11 Wichita State 63
Indiana State 53
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Darius Carter had 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 11 Wichita State over Indiana State.
Fred VanVleet added 15 points while Tekele Cotton scored 12 in a win that saw Wichita State score 30 points in the paint.
The Shockers (26-3, 16-1 Missouri Valley) won their seventh-straight game inside the Hulman Center, making it the second-longest streak in school history against an opponent at its own arena. It was the 25th victory in the last 29 meetings against the Sycamores.
Indiana State (14-15, 10-7) led for nearly 12 minutes of the first half but a 19-9 run by the Shockers put them up 28-24 at halftime.
No. 19 Baylor 79
No. 12 Iowa State 70
AMES, Iowa -- Taurean Prince scored 20 points and 19th-ranked Baylor upset No. 12 Iowa State on the road for its third-straight win.
The Bears (21-7, 9-6 Big 12) shot 14 of 26 from three-point range, becoming the first team other than Kansas to win in Ames since 2012.
Baylor hit five straight threes late in the second half, the last two by Prince, to take a 72-66 lead with 4:41 left. The Bears held Iowa State to just four points in the final 6:26.
Jameel McKay had a career-high 21 points for the Cyclones (20-7, 10-5), now a game behind the first-place Jayhawks in the Big 12 with just three games to play.
Richmond 67
No. 22 VCU 63, 2 OT
RICHMOND, Va. -- Terry Allen had a key block and two free throws in the closing seconds of the second overtime to help Richmond beat Virginia Commonwealth.
ShawnDre' Jones scored 22 points and Allen had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Spiders (16-12, 9-6 Atlantic 10). Kendall Anthony added 13 points and T.J. Cline had 11, including a tying layup with 2 seconds left in the first overtime.
Treveon Graham had 25 points and 10 rebounds to lead VCU (21-7, 11-4), and JeQuan Lewis added 15 points.
Graham made a long three-pointer from in front of the Rams' bench to tie the score at 52 at the end of regulation. With VCU trailing 65-63, Graham had a chance to send it to a third overtime but had his layup blocked from behind by Allen.
No. 23 Butler 73
Marquette 52
INDIANAPOLIS -- Kellen Dunham scored 22 points and Kameron Woods added 14 to lead Butler to a win over Marquette.
The Bulldogs (20-8, 10-5 Big East) rebounded from their worst loss of the season by winning their 20th game of the season for the 20th time in school history. Butler also avoided losing back-to-back games for the first time since mid-December.
Marquette (11-16, 4-12) was led by Luke Fisher with 17 points. It has lost four straight.
Sports on 02/27/2015