Texas A&M beats Kentucky in crazy fashion tightening SEC race
It took everything Texas A&M had Saturday plus a silly mistake by a Kentucky freshman for the Aggies to upset the Wildcats 79-77 in an overtime thriller with a twist.
Kentucky had a one-point lead and Texas A&M had the ball in the final 20 seconds of overtime. Texas A&M guard Anthony Collins drove into the lane and had his shot blocked by Kentucky freshman Isaac Humphries with 9.4 seconds showing.
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Humphries grabbed the ball and was fouled and he celebrated by slamming the ball into the court, which led officials to issue him a technical foul. It didn’t look like something that necessitated a technical foul, but by the letter of the law in college basketball it was one. The call gave Humphries his fifth personal and he was out of the game.
Danuel House made the two technical free throws gifting Texas A&M. By rule, the player who subbed into the game for Humphries was designated to take his free throws on the other end. Skal Labissiere came in to make one of two, tying the game at 77-77.
House drove into the lane off an out-of-bounds play following a timeout and put up a shot that missed, but Tyler Davis grabbed Texas A&M 18th offensive rebound of the day scored to beat the buzzer and give the Aggies a thrilling victory.
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It was a heartbreaking way to lose for Humphries who was called upon to do much more than usual with injuries and foul trouble severely limiting coach John Calipari’s options in the post. Humphries scored six points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked two shots, but this one will likely be remembered for his over-exuberance leading to the technical.
Kentucky was fortunate to be in the game at all giving up so many offensive rebounds and nine 3-pointers. But the scoring of Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray along with the gritty play of reserves such as Humphries proved almost enough to get the Wildcats out of College State with a victory.
Ulis scored 22 points and Murray had 21. Kentucky made 10 3-pointers.
Jalen Jones led all scorers with 24 points for the Aggies and Davis’ winning bucket gave him 15. He also pulled down 12 rebounds.
Kentucky missed a chance to take a two-game lead in the SEC standings. The outcome tightens things a bit at the top of the standings for now, but the Wildcats remain in control with the Aggies, LSU and South Carolina just behind.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
