Kentucky Beats Mississippi State in a Thriller, SEC Tournament Championship, 14 March 2010

Kentucky came into the game looking for their first SEC Tournament Championship since 2004, while Mississippi State looked to repeat as champions to secure a bid for the NCAA Tournament.  The game started as a close game and continued that way throughout the game.  Neither team could gather a big lead in the first half, but Mississippi St held on to a 4-point lead at half-time by a score of 35-31.

The Wildcats came out in the second half and quickly tied the basketball game.  The game continued to be close down the stretch.  The Wildcats couldn’t pull away and neither could the Bulldogs.  The game was very similar to the one played in Mississippi early this year that went into overtime.  Mississippi St. held a 3-point lead in the final seconds, but due to a miss at the free-throw line of a one and one, Kentucky had the ball down 3 points with about 10 seconds left in the game.  After an inbound from a time-out, Kentucky’s Eric Bledsoe pushed the ball down the court and Mississippi State quickly fouled him to prevent a 3-point shot from getting off.  Now, Bledsoe is at the line shooting two shots.  The first free throw goes through the net.  The score is now 64-62 in favor of the Bulldogs.  Does Bledsoe miss the second on purpose?  Well, that’s exactly what he did.  The ball bounced off the rim to the right and John Wall was able to track it down with about 4 seconds left in the game.  Wall took a forced, defended shot that ended up being an air-ball, but Kentucky’s DeMarcus Cousins was in the right place at the right time.  Cousins grabbed the rebound, put the ball off the backboard with only .1 seconds left in the game.  Game tied at 64-64 at the end of regulation!  The referees double-checked to make sure that Cousin’s shot counted and it did!

In the overtime, Kentucky quickly gained a 2-point lead, but Mississippi St. came back and took a lead of their own.  Kentucky got the lead back and held the lead by 2 points within the last minute.  Kentucky had the ball, in John Wall’s hand, letting the shot-clock run down.  Wall started to make his move with only 10 seconds left on the shot clock.  Wall drove the ball to the middle of the free throw line, kicked it out to Ramon Harris, but Harris hesitated on the 3-pointer.  Wall quickly ran back behind the 3-point line and received the ball back from Ramon Harris.  The shot clock was only at 3 seconds when John Wall went up to attempt a 3-pointer.  Anticipating that he would get fouled, he readjusted in mid-air, leaned to his right, and took the shot.  Somehow, the shot clanked the rim twice and went through the net.  In a miraculous shot by John Wall, Kentucky now had a 3-point lead with about 26 seconds left in the game.  Mississippi State brought the ball down the court, down by a score of 74-69.  Miss St. attempted several shots, rebounded several times, and finally hit a 2-point shot with only 6 seconds left.  The score was now 74-71 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats with only 6 seconds left.  After a timeout-Kentucky inbounded the ball and Mississippi State immediately fouled DeMarcus Cousins.  Cousins came down, missed the first free throw, but made the second to push the score to 75-71.  Mississippi State pushed the ball down the court, shot a three-pointer and made it, but time expired as the ball went through the hoop, making the final score of the game, 75-74 in favor of the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Kentucky Wildcats are your Southeastern Conference Tournament Champions of 2010!!

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
Eric Bledsoe - 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block
John Wall - 17 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 steals
Patrick Patterson - 15 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal
DeMarcus Cousins - 10 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist
Daniel Orton - 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal
DeAndre Liggins - 4 points, 1 assist
Darnell Dodson - 3 points, 5 rebounds

John Wall was the Most Valuable Player of the SEC Tournament, but DeMarcus Cousins proved to be the hero for Kentucky.  This is Kentucky’s 26th SEC Tournament Championship.  The Wildcats can now sit back and find out where they are going to be playing in the NCAA Tournament, where they should be a number one seed with ease.

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