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Wildcats down Vols in regular-season finale

Mar 7, 2011 - 4:48 AM Knoxville, TN (Sports Network) - Terrence Jones finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds, and made a pair of crucial free throws in the final minute to help No. 20 Kentucky hold on for a 64-58 victory over Tennessee at Thompson- Boling Arena.

Brandon Knight had 19 points to lead the Wildcats (22-8, 10-6 SEC), who closed their regular season with a third consecutive win. Kentucky clinched the second seed in the SEC's West division -- and a first-round bye in the upcoming conference tourney -- with the result.

Darius Miller added 15 points in the victory, while Jones did the majority of his scoring at the free throw line, making 9-of-15. He shot 3-of-15 from the field.

"What I told them was we grew up today," Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. "For the first time this year, we did not play the way we started."

Tobias Harris had 18 points to lead the Volunteers (18-13, 8-8), who lost six of their final nine games. Scotty Hopson added 13 points.

"(Harris) gave us great confidence," Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl said. "You could see he was a lot healthier in this game than the last time the two teams played. He defended Jones well."

Tennessee controlled the game early and expanded its lead to 22-12 with under seven minutes left in the first half, after Harris and Hopson drained back-to- back jumpers.

But Kentucky scored the next seven points to stay close, and was within 29-22 at the break. The Wildcats went on another 7-0 run to start the second half, and used long-distance shooting to gain some distance several minutes later.

Doron Lamb hit one and Knight sank two during an 11-2 run, which had Kentucky up 40-33 with under 15 minutes to go.

Kentucky continued to lead, but couldn't pull away, giving Tennessee the opportunity to pull back in the contest. The Vols did just that, scoring 9 of 11 points just after the game headed into the final 10 minutes. Kenny Hall netted the last of the Vols' points on a jumper, which gave them a 52-51 edge.

But the Wildcats countered with the next five points, and didn't relinquish the lead.

A long Kentucky possession, which included three missed shots, resulted in Knight going to the foul line with 1:02 remaining. He made both attempts for a 61-56 advantage.

After Hopson sank two free throws at the other end, Miller missed a jumper and the ball went out of bounds, but the Wildcats retained possession. Forced to foul, Tennessee sent Jones to the line with 15.6 ticks remaining.

Jones drained both tries, and Harris missed a three at the other end as Kentucky secured the victory.

Game Notes

Kentucky recorded its first regular season sweep of the Volunteers since the 2009 season...The Wildcats shot only 36 percent, but made seven three- pointers...Tennessee made 38 percent of its shots overall, but only 2-of-9 from long range...The Wildcats will begin SEC tourney play on Friday.