Kentucky ekes out thriller at Las Vegas Invitational

By Steve Silver (contact)

Saturday, Nov. 29, 2008 | 1:45 a.m.

Aside from Ashley Judd's absence behind the University of Kentucky bench, the Orleans Arena transformed into Lexington's Rupp Arena as the Wildcats pulled out a 74-72 thriller over Kansas State in front of a heavily partisan crowd Friday night.

"That might be a Saturday morning open gym back in Lexington," Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie joked. "But we are very grateful for all of the fans that were here, and I do think it did help our guys."

Kentucky had built up a 17-point lead in front of the blue-and-white crowd and was cruising to the Las Vegas Invitational's championship contest with less than 13 minutes left to play. But Kentucky committed a season-high 31 turnovers, which allowed Kansas State to claw back into the game.

Kansas State had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining, but Dominique Sutton lost his dribble and turned the ball over to all but seal the victory for Kentucky.

"We don't have enough guys doing what they need to do right now," Gillispie said. "We are very, very lucky to win."

Despite falling into a 16-7 hole in the opening five minutes, Kentucky stormed backed to take a 37-23 lead into the locker room at halftime thanks to the performance of junior Jodie Meeks.

Meeks single-handedly outscored Kansas State, 24-23, in the first half. He went on to finish the game with 37 points, six rebounds and four steals.

"(Meeks) was fantastic," Gillispie said. "That first half performance especially was something else. That won't be good enough for the long haul, but it was good enough for tonight … You don't want one guy scoring 37 points if you only score 70-some."

Meeks and the rest of the Wildcats were not allowed to speak to the media following the game, but Kentucky cannot hide for long as it will face West Virginia for the Las Vegas Invitational championship today at 7:30 p.m.

The Mountaineers clobbered the Iowa Hawkeyes 87-68 in the first marquee matchup Friday night thanks to a balanced offensive attack.

Sophomore John Flowers posted 14 points and eight rebounds while senior Alex Ruoff and junior Joe Mazzulla added 13 points each.

"I thought we did a good job defensively to create some offense with a lot of people contributing," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.

Even though the score was lopsided, the Mountaineers could have extended their lead had they not struggled with free throw shooting. While the Hawkeyes hit 20 of 29 from the charity stripe, the Mountaineers connected on just 15 of 34 free throw attempts.

"Free throw shooting is like a disease," Huggins said. "You have one guy up there and he clanks one and then you put someone else up there who should make them and he misses them and then all of a sudden everybody is having trouble."

Iowa will face Kansas State at 4:30 p.m. today before the title contest.

Although Kentucky's victory prevented a matchup between Huggins and his former team, Kansas State, in the championship, both Gillispie and Huggins seemed excited about the matchup.

"(West Virginia) is a much better offensive team and they are a much better rebounding team," Gillispie said. "That's no disrespect to Kansas State, but it's a more experienced team and a more talented team. They'll get after us."

Southeast Missouri State drops Longwood

Friday's first contest was also its closest as Southeast Missouri State clung to a nine-point halftime lead to move past Longwood, 81-77.

Junior Calvin Williams led the Redhawks with 22 points and 11 rebounds. The 6-foot-9 center also snagged a team-high three rebounds. Senior guard Kenard Moore added another 18 points thanks to a 4-of-6 effort from beyond the arch.

Southeast Missouri State benefited from the Lancers' inability to shoot in the first half. Longwood hit just 36.6 percent of its field goal attempts in the opening half and didn't fare much better in the second half with a 43.2 percent shooting average.

Although the Redhawks gave up 20 turnovers, they posted 44 points from the paint to lift them to victory.

The Redhawks will face Oakland University at 2 p.m. at the Orleans Arena, while the Lancers square off against Delaware State at 11:30 a.m.

Oakland downs Delaware State

Despite trailing by nine points at halftime, the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies pulled off a stellar second-half comeback to defeat the Delaware State Hornets 75-70 Friday afternoon.

Freshman guard Drew Maynard notched 21 points to lead the Golden Grizzlies while Donald Johnson and Fred Bouie each put up 14 points for the Hornets.

Delaware State was nearly unstoppable in the first half, shooting nearly 62 percent from the floor, but the Hornets' hot hands cooled in the second half as they hit just 10 of 27 shots.

Oakland capitalized and outscored Delaware State 42-28 in the second half en route to its 75-70 victory.

Steve Silver can be reached at 948-7822 or steve.silver@lasvegassun.com.