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No. 15 Kentucky beats Ole Miss, gains SEC semifinals

Mar 12, 2011 - 12:28 AM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Brandon Knight finished with 17 points, six rebounds and six assists, as 15th-ranked Kentucky outlasted Ole Miss, 75-66, in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.

Doron Lamb had a team-high 19 points and Darius Miller added 15 with seven boards for the Wildcats (23-8), the East's second seed.

Kentucky, which never trailed in the game, will face Alabama in the semifinals on Saturday.

"It definitely felt like a home game," Knight said. "Just in the beginning, all the crowd would all chant 'Blue and white, go Cats go,' and stuff like that, just gave us a home atmosphere. And I think we were able to feed off of that and get energy from it."

Chris Warren notched a game-high 20 points for the Rebels (20-13), who were down 51-39 in the second half.

Ole Miss, the West's third seed, responded with a 12-2 surge. Dundrecous Nelson capped the run with a three-pointer, closing the gap to 53-51 with just under 12 minutes remaining. Moments later, Lamb completed a three-point play to push Kentucky's lead to seven at 60-53.

Ole Miss managed to pull within 68-66 when Warren knocked down a trey with 1:47 to play. Knight, though, single handedly propelled Kentucky into the next round by scoring the game's final seven points -- five of which came from the foul line.

"I thought both teams were really battling," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. "It looked as if there was a stretch, I think we were down 12 points - as a matter of fact, we were down 12 with about 14, 15 (minutes) to play, and it could have easily gotten away from us. Our guys continued to battle and dig, and it was really a one- or two-possession game to the end."

The Wildcats raced out to an early 14-4 lead and carried a 36-29 edge into the break.

Game Notes

Kentucky improved to 15-0 all-time against Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament...The Rebels haven't won consecutive tournament games since 2001...Josh Harrellson supplied 13 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats, who shot 48 percent from the field while limiting Ole Miss to 34 percent...Terrance Henry notched 17 points and 12 boards in defeat.