SEC/TOP 25 MEN: Cats easily push home streak to 32

Kentucky’s Darius Miller shoots a three-pointer Saturday during the second half of the No. 22 Wildcats’ 90-59 victory over South Carolina at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Miller scored a career-high 22 points for Kentucky, which travels to Fayetteville on Wednesday to face Arkansas.
Kentucky’s Darius Miller shoots a three-pointer Saturday during the second half of the No. 22 Wildcats’ 90-59 victory over South Carolina at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Miller scored a career-high 22 points for Kentucky, which travels to Fayetteville on Wednesday to face Arkansas.

— Darius Miller scored a career-high 22 points and No. 22 Kentucky had little trouble in a 90-59 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

Terrence Jones added 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats (19-7, 7-5 SEC), who remain unbeaten at Rupp Arena under John Calipari. Kentucky scored the game’s first 14 points and led by as much as 36 to push its home winning streak to 32, the second-longest in school history.

The Wildcats hit 11 of 20 three-pointers and had five players score at least 11 points, including junior guard DeAndre Liggins, who didn’t start for the first time this season.

Malik Cooke led South Carolina (13-12, 4-7) with 12 points but the Gamecocks shot just 34 percent from the floor in losing their fifth consecutive.

Leading scorers Bruce Ellington and Sam Muldrow scored a combined 13 points on 3 of 17 shooting as South Carolina suffered its worst loss of the season.

Miller’s previous high was 20 in the NCAA Tournament against Wake Forest last season, and he’s remained a puzzle this season, mixing solid performances with games where he seems to disappear in plain sight.

That wasn’t a problem Saturday. He hit his first six three-point attempts, grabbed nine rebounds and went strong to the basket when he got into the lane.

Miller had plenty of help. Brandon Knight added 12 points and set a career high with nine assists, Doron Lamb scored 18 while making his second consecutive start and Liggins appeared to have no problem coming off the bench.

It was more than enough to overwhelm the Gamecocks and ruin Coach Darrin Horn’s homecoming.

The Lexington native had a solid contingent of supporters behind the South Carolina bench and received a nice ovation upon his introduction, but the pleasantries ended there.

Kentucky scored the game’s first 14 points as the new-look starting lineup had little trouble doing whatever it wanted against the Gamecocks. Miller hit two three-pointers during the run, which was capped by a three-pointer from Lamb.

Cooke f inally got the Gamecocks’ first points with a dunk, but it hardly mattered as Kentucky quickly pushed the lead to 20 points.

Calipari has been on his team to finish off opponents, and the Wildcats did their best to wrap things up early. Knight threw himself into the announcers table while chasing down a loose ball with an 18-point lead. He managed to fling the ball to Liggins for a basket to put Kentucky up 24-4.

Horn called a couple of timeouts to help the Gamecocks regain their composure, but their leaders didn’t step up. Ellington and Smith went a combined 0 for 10 in the first half as Kentucky went up 50-21, tied for its biggest halftime lead this season.

There were minor moments of trepidation for Kentucky in the second half as the Wildcats stumbled a bit in the face of South Carolina’s fullcourt press.

Calipari even called timeout once in frustration after two turnovers keyed a 9-0 South Carolina run that trimmed Kentucky’s lead to 55-32. His team’s attention back on the floor, the Wildcats ended any semblance of drama by going on a 9-0 run capped by a difficult runner from Liggins that put Kentucky up 64-32.

NO. 18 VANDERBILT 77, AUBURN 60

AUBURN, Ala. - John Jenkins scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half and No. 18 Vanderbilt (20-6, 8-4 SEC) used a dominant second-half stretch to turn a tie game into a rout over Auburn (9-17, 2-10).

The Commodores went on a 23-4 run after Auburn managed to tie it six minutes into the second half. Their fifth consecutive victory gave Vandy its sixth 20-victory season during Coach Kevin Stallings’ 12 seasons.

Jeffery Taylor had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Commodores. Earnest Ross led Auburn with 19 points and Kenny Gabriel added 13.

GEORGIA 69, TENNESSEE 63

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Jeremy Price scored 20 points as Georgia (18-8, 7-5 SEC) beat Tennessee (16-11, 6-6) for its first victory in Knoxville in 10 seasons.

After Georgia led by 15 points in the first half, the Volunteers cut the margin to 63-61 with 42 seconds left after Scotty Hopson pulled in a rebound off a missed free throw by Dustin Ware, drove to the three-point line before hesitating and then drove all the way to the basket for an uncontested dunk.

Ware was fouled twice more, and he hit all four of his free throws to seal the victory. Price finished off the game with a dunk with 14 seconds left.

Hopson had a career-high 32 points.

MISSISSIPPI STATE 71, MISSISSIPPI 58

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Renardo Sidney scored 22 points, Ravern Johnson added 16 and Mississippi State (14-12, 6-6 SEC) beat Mississippi (17-10, 5-7).

Sidney, who scored his season-high of 24 points against the Rebels in a victory earlier this season, was 8 of 12 from the field and also grabbed 12 rebounds.

Sports, Pages 31 on 02/20/2011

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