No. 2 Wildcats get revenge for their only loss
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Patrick Patterson had a season-high 23 points and No. 2 Kentucky avenged its only loss this season with an 82-61 victory over South Carolina Thursday night.
The Wildcats (27-1, 12-1) need one more victory or a Vanderbilt loss to clinch at least a share of their 44th Southeastern Conference championship.
Like its last meeting with Kentucky a month ago, South Carolina (14-13, 5-8) proved a pesky opponent until near the end. However, Kentucky had too much offensive firepower, and its defense gave up 26 points to the SEC's leading scorer, Devan Downey, but little else.
South Carolina never led, and every time it started to chip away, the Wildcats had an answer and it was usually from Patterson, who scored the first points of the game on a 3-pointer and didn't slow down.
No. 5 Duke 70, Tulsa 52
At Durham, N.C., Nolan Smith had 18 points and Kyle Singler added 17 for Duke in its 77th consecutive home nonconference win.
Jon Scheyer finished with 15 points for the Blue Devils (24-4), who used a big run early in the second half to break open a surprisingly tight game.
Jerome Jordan had 12 points to lead the Golden Hurricane (19-9), who lost their fourth straight and finished with a season-low point total.
No. 16 Vanderbilt 96, Georgia 94, OT
At Nashville, Tenn., Jermaine Beal scored a career-high 28 points and Vanderbilt overcame a five-point deficit in the final 33 seconds of regulation.
A.J. Ogilvy's tap-in with 15 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 77. Georgia's Travis Leslie then missed two chances to win the game.
The Commodores (21-6, 10-3 Southeastern Conference) took a six-point lead in overtime with 28 seconds to go. Georgia (12-14, 4-9) had a chance to tie at the end, but Leslie's toss of Chris Barnes' intentionally missed free throw fell short as the buzzer sounded.
No. 17 Wisconsin 78, Indiana 46
At Bloomington, Ind., Trevon Hughes scored 17 points and Wisconsin rolled to one of its most impressive wins of the season.
The Badgers (21-7, 11-5 Big Ten) shot 54 percent from the field and had five players score in double figures in their sixth straight win over Indiana.
Derek Elston had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Hoosiers (9-18, 3-12), who lost their ninth straight game and were swept by Wisconsin for the third straight season.
No. 18 Gonzaga 88, Santa Clara 51
At Spokane, Wash., Steven Gray scored 26 points and Gonzaga (23-5, 11-2) clinched at least a tie for a 10th consecutive West Coast Conference regular season title, one of the longest such runs in NCAA history.
In winning at least a share of a 10th consecutive WCC title, Gonzaga moved into a tie with Connecticut (1951-60 Yankee Conference) and UNLV (1983-92 Big West) for the second-longest such streak in NCAA history. UCLA is first with 13 straight Pac-10 titles from 1967-79.
