COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Tennessee’s Trae Golden watched Notre Dame’s five overtime victory against Louisville earlier this month and thought there was no way he’d ever be involved in a game like that.
The star point guard was wrong.
Golden scored a career high 32 points to lead Tennessee to its fifth consecutive victory, a 93-85 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday in a four-overtime game.
“To come out here and play something like that is crazy,” Golden said. “It got to a point in the second or third overtime where I was asking guys: ‘What number of overtime is this?’ It was crazy, but just something we had to push through.”
The Volunteers were up by one point in the fourth overtime when Golden scored four consecutive points to make it85-80.
“It was huge for us,” Golden said of finally pulling away. “My teammates were telling me to take the game over and finish it. I was just trying to do that. Get us a win and get us back to Knoxville.”
Elston Turner missed a shot for Texas A&M before Skylar McBee’s three-pointer pushed Tennessee’s lead to 88-80. McBee made a pair of free throws with less than a minute left to pad the lead, and the Volunteers held on for the win.
It was the first four-overtime game for Tennessee (16-10, 8-6 SEC), and the most extra periods the Aggies (16-11, 6-8) have played since dropping a 116-110 five-overtime game to Baylor on Jan. 23, 2008.
The most overtimes the Volunteers had played before Saturday was three, which happened three times with the last one coming in a victory over Alabama on Dec. 12, 1979.
Tennessee has won five consecutive conference games for the first time since winning eight in a row in 2008.
Tennessee Coach Cuonzo Martin was impressed with the conditioning of his team, especially Golden, who played 56 minutes. He said Golden’s conditioning has improved this season and that there was “no way” he would have been able to play that long last year.
He seemed to get stronger as the game progressed, and scored 15 points in the overtimes.
“We just found a way to get stops and make big plays,” Martin said. “I didn’t see any signs of fatigue or giving up in our guys.”
Turner had 38 points to lead the Aggies.
“It was a fun, entertaining game,” Turner said. “I’ve never been a part of anything like it. We definitely needed to make some extra shots to win it.”
Jordan McRae added 23 points for Tennessee, and Jarnell Stokes had 20 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks.
The Volunteers didn’t score for the first 5 1/2 minutes of the game, and had to play from behind most of the game.
“I feel like everyone played their hardest,” Stokes said. “We started the game off sluggish, and to end up winning after that shows our resilience.” LSU 97, ALABAMA 94, 3OT
BATON ROUGE - Johnny O’Bryant capped a 24-point, 10-rebound performance by hitting two free throws inside the final 10 seconds of the third overtime, and LSU held on to beat Alabama.
O’Bryant’s strong inside basket gave the Tigers the lead for good at 91-90 with 2:18 to go in the last extra session, and Anthony Hickey added a clutch three-pointer from the right corner to make it 94-90 with 1:19 left. That allowed LSU (16-9, 7-7 SEC) to finally capitalize on its 10-point comeback inside the final three minutes of regulation and hand Alabama (18-9, 10-4) its first loss in five games.
For the Crimson Tide, the loss spoiled Trevor Releford’s career-best 36-point performance on 14-of-18 shooting, including 4 of 4 from three-point range. The junior also had three steals, making him the Crimson Tide’s all-time leader with 178.
MISSISSIPPI 88, AUBURN 55
OXFORD, Miss. - Marshall Henderson scored 28 points, Derrick Millinghaus added 14 and Mississippi easily beat Auburn.
Henderson scored 19 of his points in the first half as the Rebels built a 44-27 halftime lead. The SEC’s leading scorer didn’t start for the first time all season, but came off the bench to hit eight three pointers, which tied the school’s single game record.
Ole Miss (20-7, 9-5 SEC) won for just the third time in eight games and never trailed. Coach Andy Kennedy set a school record with his 145th career victory, which passes B.L. Graham’s mark of 144. Kennedy has a 145-85 record over seven seasons.
Auburn (9-18, 3-11) lost for the 11th time in 12 games. Shaquille Johnson led the Tigers with 18 points.
GEORGIA 62, SOUTH CAROLINA 54, OT
ATHENS, Ga. - Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 18 points, Charles Mann added 14 and Georgia beat South Carolina in overtime.
The Bulldogs (13-14, 7-7 SEC) snapped a three-game losing streak.
Bruce Ellington finished with 11 points for South Carolina (13-14, 3-11).
Nemanja Djurisic had 11 points and Brandon Morris pulled down 11 rebounds for Georgia.
VANDERBILT 72, MISSISSIPPI STATE 31
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Kevin Bright scored 15 points and Rod Odom had 13 points to lead Vanderbilt to a blowout of poor-shooting Mississippi State on Saturday.
The Commodores (11-15, 5-9 SEC) made 11 of 31 shots from beyond the arc, finishing 28 for 61 from the floor (46 percent).
Vanderbilt dominated Mississippi State in most all statistical categories, including a 51-17 rebounding margin.
It was the largest margin of victory for Vanderbilt in an SEC game since a victory over Kentucky in 2008. It was also the fewest points allowed by a Vanderbilt team since a victory over Alabama in January 1949.
Mississippi State (7-19, 2-12), which has lost 12 consecutive games, was 15 of 18 from the free throw line, but did not score a field goal until the 8:48 mark of the first half. The Bulldogs finished 7 for 40 from the field.
KENTUCKY 90, MISSOURI 83, OT
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Julius Mays’ eight points in overtime, including four clinching free throws in the final 33 seconds, helped Kentucky beat Missouri.
Mays made six free throws in overtime and scored 21 of his 24 points after halftime for the Wildcats (19-8, 10-4 SEC).
Archie Goodwin (Sylvan Hills) scored all 18 of his points after intermission while Ryan Harrow added 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. That helped offset Phil Pressey’s 27 points for Missouri (19-8 8-6).
Alex Poythress added 21 points for the Wildcats.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Florida 71, Arkansas 54 LSU 97, Alabama 94, 3OT Vanderbilt 72, Mississippi State 31 Georgia 62, South Carolina 54, OT Tennessee 93, Texas A&M 85, 4OT Mississippi 88, Auburn 55 Kentucky 90, Missouri 83
Sports, Pages 32 on 02/24/2013