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Golden moments revitalize Vols

Tennessee guard Trae Golden scored 25 points during Thursday’s game, leading the Volunteers to a 69-60 victory over No. 23 Wichita State on Thursday, in Knoxville, Tenn.
Tennessee guard Trae Golden scored 25 points during Thursday’s game, leading the Volunteers to a 69-60 victory over No. 23 Wichita State on Thursday, in Knoxville, Tenn.

— Trae Golden believed Tennessee could not afford a third consecutive loss, so he made sure the Volunteers avoided that fate.

Golden scored 25 points and sparked an 11-2 run that closed out a 69-60 victory over No. 23 Wichita State on Thursday night, which snapped the Volunteers’ two-game losing streak and handed the Shockers their first loss of the season.

“I told the guys it was a must-win before the game,” Golden said. “I knew it was a must-win.”

In its previous two games, Tennessee had lost 37-36 to Georgetown in the SEC/Big East Challenge on Nov. 30 and 46-38 at Virginia on Dec. 5. The only other time Tennessee failed to score 40 points since the shot clock was introduced for the 1985-86 season was a 43-35 loss to Auburn on Jan. 15, 1997.

Tennessee (5-3) knew it needed a quality nonconference victory before entering SEC competition. Wichita State (9-1) wanted to improve to 10-0 for the first time in school history.

The result was a December game played with intensity, as players dived on the court and even jumped toward the scorer’s table on at least one occasion while chasing after loose balls.

“I just wanted to make sure we won that game,” Golden said. “We couldn’t afford to go on a three-game losing streak.It was a huge win for us.”

Tennessee broke out of its offensive funk by shooting 47.5 percent from the field and matching the highest point total Wichita State had allowed all season. The Shockers won 72-69 at Air Force on Dec. 2.

The Vols are shooting 50.8 percent in their victories and 29.1 percent in their losses this season.

“This is a quality win against a quality opponent,” said Tennessee guard Jordan McRae, who added 17 points.

Carl Hall matched a career high with 21 points and also had nine rebounds - seven offensive - for Wichita State, which moved into the Associated Press Top 25 two weeks ago.

“We just didn’t play well,” Wichita State Coach Gregg Marshall said. “We had too many guys not play as well as they need to play. We weren’t very smart. We fouled too many times. We didn’t make our free throws. They did.”

Hall delivered a three-point play that gave Wichita State a 59-58 lead and caused Stokes to foul out with 3:55 remaining, but the Vols outscored the Shockers 11-2 the rest of the way.

Golden went 6 of 8 from the free-throw line during the game-ending run. He made 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game with 3:29 left. Kenny Hall put Tennessee ahead for good by making two free throws with 3:10 remaining.

Golden went 13 of 16 from the free-throw line.

“Trae Golden was huge tonight,” Tennessee Coach Cuonzo Martin said. “He really attacked the rim, made plays and forced the referee to make calls. He was very aggressive. I thought it was his best game all season, just being assertive and being in tune on both ends of the floor. I thought he was outstanding defensively.”

NO. 20 UNLV 91, LA VERNE 44

LAS VEGAS - Freshman Anthony Bennett scored 27 points and No. 20 UNLV won its sixth consecutive game, topping La Verne.

Bennett, who went into the game averaging 19.5 points, has led the Runnin’ Rebels (8-1) in scoring in eight of their nine games and each of their past seven. The 6-8 forward ranks second in scoring in the Mountain West Conference and 34th nationally, leading all freshmen.

Katin Reinhardt added 14 points, while Savon Goodman contributed 13 for UNLV, which opened the game on a 15-2 run.

Vince Bauer had 16 points and Jake Veith added 11 for La Verne (1-5), which has lost five in a row.

Sports, Pages 24 on 12/14/2012

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