Kentucky holds off State
By By Jeff Byrd / sports editor
March 17, 2003
NEW ORLEANS Kentucky completed an unbeaten run through its Southeastern Conference breathen by winning its 11th SEC Mens Basketball Tournament championship on Sunday afternoon at the Louisiana Superdome.
Led by tournament MVP and SEC Player of the Year Keith Bogans, the Wildats slip past a tough-minded Mississippi State team 64-57. Bogans finished with 22 points to key the Wildcast to their 23rd straight win which includes 19 straight over SEC foes in a league ranked No. 1 in the nation by the NCAA's RPI ratings.
Two hours later, the Wildcats were given the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional. Kentucky, now 29-3, will open the NCAA Tournament as the favorite even though the overall first seed in the tournament went to Texas in the South Regional.
Mississippi State, which had a great opportunity to repeat as SEC Tournament champions, landed a nice consolation prize with a trip to the NCAA East Regional in Birmingham. The Bulldogs of head coach Rick Stansbury will take a 21-9 record into its first round contest against Butler.
Bogans, who was 6-of-13 from the field and 7-of-10 from the line, was prepared for his team to win its conference title, something two of the other No. 1 seeds like Arizona and Texas failed to do.
Smith was appreciative of his team's accomplishments.
Stansbury was equally proud of his team's efforts. He just wished they could've finished more shots. The Bulldogs made just 22 of 61 shots for 36.1 percent. Kentucky also made 22 shots, but needed only 44 tries.
Kentucky appeared on the verge of putting away the Bulldogs with five minutes to go. The Wildcats were up seven at 56-49 and the Bulldogs had just seen a pass Austin go past him out of bounds for a turnover.
Then the Bulldogs got help from unlikely source. Winsome Frazier made a steal and then converted it for a layup, one of the few times, State was able to beat the Wildcats back in transition in the second half.
Another steal, this time by Austin, set a two-shot foul for Zimmerman. He made one of two to make it 56-52 with 3:29 left.
Kentucky missed a shot on its end and State went on a break but the transition was stopped by a block out of bounds by Gerald Fitch.
Still, State was able to set up a shot for Frazier on the baseline. The sophomore guard nailed the three-pointer cutting Kentucky's lead to one at 56-55 with 2:36 left.
Chuck Hayes was short on his layup attempt and State grabbed the rebound. Zimmerman had a shot on a drive but it rimmed off. On the rebound, Austin was fouled sendinng him to the line for two foul shots with 1:51 left.
The first one just rolled off to the left. Austin tried to correct it on the second one, but left it short.
Kentucky rebounded and then went back to the power game going to 6-9 post Marquis Estill in the middle of the lane. The basket was good putting Kentucky up 58-55 with 1:24 left.
Zimmerman tried to answer but his driving layup rolled right off the rim. He then fouled Hayes.
Hayes made both free throws to put the Wildcats ahead 60-55 with 1:06 remaining.
Two, three-point attempts by Frazier missed but Austin was able to putback the second miss to score the final of his nine points. The shot was just one of three he would make."
