National Basketball Association
Kentucky 74, Washington 67
When: 9:30 PM ET, Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Where: Lahaina Civic Center, Lahaina, Hawaii
Officials:
# Ed Corbett, # Bob Donato, # Sean Hull
Attendance:
2400
By SportsDirect Inc.
Brandon Knight continues to live up the hype for Kentucky.
Knight scored 24 points to lead the ninth-ranked Wildcats to a 74-67 victory over No. 11 Washington on Tuesday in a semifinal matchup at the EA Sports Maui Invitational.
With the win, Kentucky (4-0) advances to Wednesday's final and will face Connecticut after the Huskies posted a 70-67 victory over No. 2 Michigan State earlier Tuesday in the other semifinal. Washington (3-1) will meet the Spartans in the third-place game Wednesday.
Kentucky led by as many as 14 in the first half, but found itself down 35-34 at the break. Neither team could really pull away in the second half and the game was tied 50-50 with 9:20 to play.
Kentucky then went on an 11-4 run and led 61-54 with 6:33 remaining. Washington spent the next six minutes trying to make a comeback, and cut the deficit to 69-67 on a nice crossover move and layup by Isaiah Thomas with 47 seconds left.
But Thomas missed a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws while the Wildcats went 5-of-6 from the line in the closing seconds to ice it.
Knight scored 12 of his points in the first half, and also had five rebounds. Terrence Jones was the only other Wildcat in double figures as he had 16 points and 17 rebounds. Behind Jones, Kentucky had a 45-33 edge on the glass, including 17-11 on offensive rebounds.
Thomas scored 13 points and Justin Holiday had 11 and seven rebounds for the Huskies. Darnell Gant scored all 10 of his points in the first half for Washington, which fought back from its early deficit with a 9-0 run.
Top Game Performances
| Washington |
|
Kentucky |
|
Isaiah Thomas 13 |
Scoring |
Brandon Knight 24 |
|
Abdul Gaddy 4 |
Assists |
Terrence Jones 2 |
|
Aziz N'Diaye 10 |
Rebounds |
Terrence Jones 17 |
|
Isaiah Thomas 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Terrence Jones 8 |
|
Abdul Gaddy 3 |
Steals |
DeAndre Liggins 3 |
|
Aziz N'Diaye 5 |
Blocks |
Terrence Jones 4 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Washington
|
67 |
38.5 |
3-13 |
14-22 |
9 |
32 |
7 |
8 |
0 |
| Kentucky
|
74 |
39.1 |
3-17 |
21-34 |
7 |
45 |
9 |
8 |
0 |