Malachi Moreno drained a mid-range jumper at the buzzer on Wednesday to propel Kentucky to a 75-74 victory over LSU in Southeastern Conference play at Baton Rouge, La.
Moreno had 10 points for the Wildcats (11-6, 2-2 SEC), who trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half. Otega Oweh’s 21 points led Kentucky, followed by Denzel Aberdeen’s 17 and Andrija Jelavic’s 11.
Marquel Sutton and Max Mackinnon led LSU (12-5, 0-4) with 16 points apiece. Rashad King added 12 for the Tigers, who remain the last SEC team without a conference win.
With the score tied at 72, Mackinnon made a pair of free throws with 17.4 seconds left.
After Kentucky’s timeout, Oweh split a pair of foul shots with 4.5 seconds remaining and LSU pulled down the rebound.
Pablo Tamba then missed both of his free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining, before Moreno caught the ensuing full-court inbounds pass and drained an 18-footer at the buzzer.
After LSU pushed its 16-point halftime edge to 18, Kam Williams’ 3-pointer stamped a 12-2 Kentucky run to pull the Wildcats within eight at the 17:06 mark.
Collin Chandler’s triple cut Kentucky’s deficit to five, before Mackinnonn answered with a trey to push LSU’s lead to 57-49 midway through the second.
With Kentucky trailing by nine, Oweh’s 3-pointer capped an 8-0 run to cut LSU’s lead to 65-64 with 5:06 left. After Jalen Reece’s triple, another Oweh triple and Williams’ dunk put the visitors ahead by a point with 3:55 remaining.
After Sutton connected on back-to-back triples to begin the game’s scoring, Jelavic scored the first three Wildcats points.
From there, LSU answered with a 12-0 run, stamped by Sutton’s consecutive dunks to give the Tigers an 18-3 edge. Oweh then made a pair of free throws to snap a four-plus minute scoring drought, pulling the visitors within 13.
After five misses from deep, Kentucky connected on its first trey at the 8:34 mark of the first half, as Jelavic’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to 19-9.
LSU grabbed a 29-14 lead on Robert Miller III’s layup, before Oweh and Collin Chandler’s baskets highlighted a 6-1 spurt to pull the Wildcats within 10.
Sutton’s third 3-pointer and Tamba’s trey then helped LSU grab a 38-22 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
